Construction on the ongoing Bragg Creek Flood Mitigation Project is ramping up in preparation for its anticipated completion date.

The government-funded initiative aims to provide full flood protection to the hamlet of Bragg Creek and Rocky View County (RVC) says it will likely be done by this summer. 

Design stages of the project began in 2016 and was followed by a lengthy land-negotiation process, with construction underway in 2020.

RVC capital project manager Angela Yurkowski said the project is a direct response to the devastating 2013 floods.

“Bragg Creek as a community has been subject to historical flooding, but the primary driver of this project, and the primary response [was] the 2013 flood,” she said. “It caused widespread damage throughout the entire region and the hamlet of Bragg Creek was devastated by that flood.” 

Yurkowski said the hamlet saw the destruction of private and public infrastructure, and extensive damage to people’s homes, businesses, community amenities and roadways. 

“During that flood, the Elbow River entirely overtopped the banks and flooded out a huge area within the community,” she said, noting the hamlet is located within a flood fringe.

“This project is a direct response to mitigate future flooding of the hamlet — this is to protect the community for a future one-in-100 [years] flood event.” 

She said flood protection that will result from current mitigation efforts will safeguard public infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, utilities, homes and commercial buildings in a major flood event.  

She added Wilco Southwest Contractors Inc., which was awarded the contract through a public call to tender process, is planning to work in an expedited manner to reach completion by a tentative date of this June. 

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