Bridges Funding Model

The Amazing Refurbishment of the Bridges on the Dynamite Trail

The Dynamite Trail Association is a volunteer group with the original founders still shepherding it after 24 years of dedication and experience managing a trail. The Mushamush Bridge and the Martins River Bridge are on the Trail and are provincial assets. The current excellent bridge repair partnership came about when the Dynamite Trail Association (DTA) approached the Department of Community Culture Tourism and Heritage (CCTH) with a proposal to manage the restoration of these 2 bridges. We were delighted CCTH agreed to undertake this major refurbishment project, it would be a pretty dull trail without them.

A bridge without repair..

Funds for the Bridge restorations are kept entirely separate from the funds used to manage the Dynamite Trail.

The bridge repair funds from CCTH have been flowed through the DTA to enable the DTA to contract the work bid on from the tender documents. As a volunteer group, it is not possible to sign large contracts without the funds in the bank.

Interest earned and GST rebates from these Bridge Funds are all only used for Bridge projects.

The Bridge funds in the bank generate interest earnings and the paid contracts generate HST rebates. These amounts are part of the bridge rehabilitation project and it would be completely unethical for the DTA to use these funds for any purpose, except the purpose which CCTH has advanced the funds to DTA, namely for the Bridges!

The DTA is fully expecting an audit from the Auditor General at the conclusion of the projects.

Because of the large amounts of funding going through the DTA bank account in order to fund the bridge repair, it is anticipated that the Auditor General will audit the books of the DTA. The funds advanced, the interest earned and the HST rebates are separately accounted for in the books of the DTA.

Ethically, the interest earned and the HST rebates cannot be used for any purpose except bridge refurbishment. CCTH assumes that the DTA will properly handle the funds advanced through the DTA. As this is a new approach to funding major projects by CCTH, it is imperative that the DTA handle the funds in an ethical manner so that other groups in the future may enjoy the same trust from CCTH.

And so, the Dynamite Trail budget is as it ever was- beg, scrounge, apply for funding grants and work hard to keep the trail open for all users, with the same funding profile as ever, and while doing that juggle the major refurbishment of 2 bridges. Did I mention this board is all volunteers? They (and their supportive families) should be commended for their hard work.

Any questions send them to info@dynamitetrail.ca, We love to talk about our fabulous funding partners, the great contractors we work with and the amazing volunteer team who refused to let these bridges fail. As always, we could use some more volunteers so just let us know if you want to give some time to help your local trail group.

More information

Read the story of the Canadian Military Engineers Association’s 2002 project to deck the the Martin’s River bridge for safe pedestrian use here.