Baxter Bridge reopens ahead of schedule

A bridge closure that was causing a major inconvenience for some North Okanagan residents is coming to end much sooner than expected.

After an inspection on Nov. 9 found a problem with one of Baxter Bridge’s support trusses, the bridge was closed to all vehicle traffic except emergency vehicles, for safety reasons.

The province expected the closure to last for three to six weeks.

The closure was a headache for Ashton Creek residents living south of the bridge.

They are used to driving around 10 minutes to get into Enderby, but during the bridge closure, a lengthy detour meant driving to Enderby would take about an hour and a half.

Some residents had gone to the trouble of parking a car on each side of the bridge and walking across the bridge between the two vehicles to lessen their daily commute time.

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However, the bridge was able to open to traffic intermittently much sooner than the original three to six-week timeline the province expected.

By Nov. 21, less than two weeks after the problem was discovered, enough progress had been made on the repairs to allow vehicle traffic across when repair work was not actively underway.

“Given the impact of this closure, the ministry worked quickly to design a repair for the bridge and order the customer materials needed for the repair,” a Ministry of Transportation spokesperson said in a statement.

The bridge is now expected to remain open until the final temporary closure on Thursday.

During Thursday’s closure, scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the province says crews will “remove the remainder of the equipment but school buses will be able to cross at their usual times.”

“Other than Thursday’s scheduled closure, traffic is able to use the bridge uninterrupted and no further repair closures are expected,” the transportation ministry said.

The province confirmed it is looking at eventually replacing the Baxter Bridge altogether but did not provide a timeline of when that might take place.