Arlington Bridge closing for 2 weeks for repairs

The Arlington Bridge between Dufferin Avenue and Logan Avenue will be temporarily closed for two weeks for maintenance.

The closure is beginning at 6 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 21 and goes until 6 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 5.

The city says people can still walk across the bridge but drivers should allow for additional travel time and use alternate routes such as the McPhillips Street underpass or Slaw Rebchuk Bridge.

Back in May, the city put out a request for proposals for major reconstruction work on the bridge.

The repairs include shoring up the framing of the floor beams, replacing eroding and corroded parts, steel plating and installation of new steel diaphragms and supports to “existing severely corroded structural steel members.”

As well, the tender states the bridge requires new steel decking under parts of the corroded sidewalks, heating and straightening the lower third of the bridge’s pier column, and shoring that up as well.

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The bridge, which is nearly 110 years old, was slated to be closed this year with the hope of a new bridge being built by 2024. Inspections done in 2018 had the bridge listed in “poor condition” along with the Louise, Redwood and the Creek Bend Road bridge, which crosses the Seine River.

The cost of the replacement has been pegged anywhere from $319 million to $343 million, depending on the options city hall selects for the type of bridge.