A temporary replacement bridge is in the works for Port Bruce, Ont., months after the town’s only bridge collapsed following heavy rain and flooding.
The north and south sides of Port Bruce have been divided by Catfish Creek since the Imperial Road bridge collapsed on Feb. 23 as a dump truck was crossing over it.
A 27-year-old Thorndale, Ont., man was rescued without injury from the truck, which itself was plucked from the bridge a month later. It would take nearly another month for the bridge’s remains to be demolished.
Since the collapse, which the county believes was the result of corroded anchor rods, motorists have had to take a lengthy detour to get to either side of the creek.
That forced detour will hopefully come to an end by early August, according to Central Elgin Mayor David Marr, who says the county has settled on constructing a temporary modular bridge east of the old bridge.
“If we were to put one in the exact same spot, and we certainly looked at that option, it would hinder us putting in the permanent bridge,” Marr said. “So this is just a modular bridge, it’s temporary. We can reuse or repurpose that bridge once the new bridge has been built.”
The new bridge will connect Bank Street and Dexter Line and will come with a price tag of about $1.5 million, paid for in part with money from the county’s reserves. “We’ll move forward on that as we look for other solutions for paying for this,” Marr said.
In order to accommodate the temporary bridge, Marr says parts of Bank Street to the north of the creek and Dexter Line to the south will have to be rebuilt, contributing to the cost of the project.
“We had to do our due diligence, we had to make sure that we had the right spot. We looked at various options and this ended up being the best,” he said.
The proposed location for the temporary bridge has prompted criticism from a marina located along Bank Street.
The owners of North Erie Marina say they’ve considered legal action in response to the plan, saying the bridge will cut through their business and launch ramp, making it impossible to operate, according to a report in the St. Thomas Times-Journal.
“Oh, it’s shutting us down,” said Greg Edwards, one of the marina’s owners, to the Times-Journal. “The government’s just pushing us right under the bus.”
A report from the county’s CAO and solicitor, presented to Elgin County council on Tuesday, said that while progress had been made towards resolution of the marina’s complaint and legal threat, project delay was likely if litigation were pursued.
“Furthermore, there is a risk that compensation may become payable based upon business losses,” said the report, adding that there was risk other sources of opposition could arise, not just to the project itself, but to mitigation measures.
Project delay and litigation could also come up over the reliance on Malahide Township to clear encroachments for the Bank Street allowance, the report said.
As for a permanent replacement, Marr said they would focus on getting the temporary bridge organized first.
– With files from Craig Needles and Jacquelyn LeBel
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