Greater Sudbury's city council is appealing to senior levels of government for money to complete 36 necessary culvert replacements.
A culvert collapse on Bay St. in Worthington took the life of a 18-year-old girl in May 2006. A structural review of all culverts in Greater Sudbury was ordered. The review found 21 culverts in urgent need of repair and 39 culverts in need of replacement within three years.
The 21 culverts were repaired in 2006 at a cost of about $12,188,500. Federal and provincial governments infrastructure funding (COMRIF) was secured to repair three of the 39 remaining culverts but $9,739,500 is still needed to repair the other 36.
The resolution will be forwarded to a number of provincial and federal ministers, as well as local politicians.
Greg Clausen, the city's acting director of infrastructure and emergency services, said a final report on the cause of the Bay St. culvert collapse should be finalized within the next two weeks.
Skye Whitman was killed days before her 19th birthday when her vehicle hit a sink hole caused when a culvert gave way leading to a gaping hole in the road.
Whitman was driving to work in the early morning hours when the accident took place.
"I've been told the final report is almost done, but the man who has to sign off on the report, has been in hospital. I've been told to expect that report by the end of February," Clausen said.
Greater Sudbury Police say Whitman was wearing her seatbelt when her car hit the sink hole, which was more than one metre deep and six metres wide.
There was heavy rain over an extended period of time in the days before this incident took place.
The city hired Sudbury's Northland Engineering to conduct an investigation. The investigation looked at the culvert itself, structural analysis and soil analysis.
Northland Engineering cannot not release any information until Clausen reads it.
As a result of the tragedy, the city hired a structural engineering company from Barrie to conduct a thorough investigation of every large-scale culvert and bridge across Greater Sudbury, said Clausen.
"This analysis is done once every two years, but the process was accelerated up as a result of this incident," he said.
Manon Whitman, Skye's mother, said she expects a coroner's inquest will be called to determine exactly what happened once the final report is released.
She's been in touch with the regional coroner, who assured her he would also like a copy of the final report to determine what happened before making any determination on calling an inquest, she said.
Whitman said she's been waiting patiently to find out why the culvert collapsed, and she will do everything in her power to ensure measures are put in place by the city so another similar incident doesn't take place.
"I'm anxious to get this report out so we can try to make changes to ensure this never happens again," she said.
Since the accident, Whitman said she's been pleased to see so many culverts and drainage ditches have been replaced and upgraded near the Worthington area.
Whitman has returned to her government job and says life has returned to some semblance of normalcy, but the pain over losing her only daughter remains in her heart every day.
"It's getting better and the passing of time does help, but there are still a lot of very tough days," she said.
- With files from Keith Lacey and Jason Thompson.
