Halifax boardwalk’s floating bridge to open next week

The floating bridge being constructed to reconnect Halifax’s waterfront boardwalk is now scheduled to open sometime sometime next week.

“We made a decision not to open for the Canada Day weekend,” said Jennifer Angel, acting president of Waterfront Development.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We made a decision not to open for the Canada Day weekend," said Jennifer Angel, acting president of <a href="http://globalnews.ca/tag/waterfront-development/">Waterfront Development</a>.

“With a new asset like this, a new piece of infrastructure, we want to do sort of a soft opening when the crowds are somewhat lesser than what we would expect on Canada Day, so we can sort of work out any bugs and enhance our operating protocol.”

The bridge, which will span 520 feet once finished, is being built as a way of mitigating the impact to pedestrians caused by the construction of the Queen’s Marque development. The construction has disconnected the regular boardwalk.

Asked if the bridge could have been finished by July 1, Angel responded, “I think that’s speculation.”

READ MORE: Halifax business optimistic waterfront development won’t hamper bottom line

The organization previously stated that the target was to open the bridge in early May, “but we knew, also early on, that that was likely not achievable given some of the complexities involved in developing the bridge.”

The other factors in the delay included getting approvals to install the bridge, coordination with neighbouring construction, and tweaks to the design.

The contractor was ready on time, according to Angel.

“We have been working to maximize the accessibility of the sea bridge, and that has contributed to the short delays,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We have been working to maximize the accessibility of the sea bridge, and that has contributed to the short delays," she said.

The bridge, which is now about 85 per cent installed, will be open depending on what kind of construction is happening, weather conditions, and state of the sea.

The project is $10,000 to $20,000 over its $850,000 budget.

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In the meantime, pedestrians walking the boardwalk will have to divert to the lone open sidewalk on the west side of Lower Water Street between Prince and George streets.

That sidewalk was congested on Thursday, especially in stretch that tunnels through scaffolding.

The municipal government announced on Thursday that the section of Lower Water Street will only be open to pedestrians between July 1 and July 3 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.