The Government of Canada amended the Navigable Waters Protection Act to become the Navigation Protection Act effective April 1, 2014. The new Act requires assessments for bridges only on a small number of scheduled waterways. Owners of existing bridges on non-scheduled waterways that were regulated under the previous Act are able to opt their bridges out of the Navigation Protection Act prior to April 1, 2019.
Alberta Transportation is technically the owner of all municipally-managed local road bridges and therefore must opt out on behalf of municipalities. Alberta Transportation has devised their own navigation standards for provincial bridges and has opted all provincial bridges out of the Navigation Protection Act. Transportation Alberta has also judged the legal risks of opting out as minimal compared to the regulatory freedom it would provide. The stringent requirements in the Act cause an administrative burden for municipalities constructing bridges or culverts over small bodies of water with little or no navigation activity.
All new bridges constructed after April 1, 2014 are exempt from the regulatory requirements. If the County does not seek to opt out prior to April 1, 2019, County bridges will remain regulated under the Navigation Protection Act.
Owners are permitted to opt back in to the regulatory regime if they believe the construction or modification may have an impact on navigability.
Opting a bridge out of the Navigation Protection Act does not affect the responsibility of the bridge owner to follow other provincial and federal regulatory requirements relating to bridge design, construction, and maintenance. This particular decision only exempts bridges from taking navigation into consideration when carrying out construction,
The AAMDC passed a resolution in November 2015 to support the Government of Alberta's request to opt out existing local road bridges built prior to April 1, 2014 out of the Navigation Protection Act as per the recommendations of municipalities.