It’s almost finished! Quinpool bridge construction could wrap up early
Posted Jul 25, 2019 01:34:34 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Some great news for commuters.
It looks like work on the Quinpool Road CN bridge could wrap up early.
One of the peninsula's main arterial routes shut down to vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians between Connaught Avenue and the Armdale Rotary on April 1 for repairs to the bridge.
The construction was expected to last around 4.5 months, putting the estimated reopening in mid-August.
However, the councillor for the area, Shawn Cleary, says he toured the site Wednesday with the mayor, it it looks like it traffic could start flowing through the area ahead of schedule.
“The only thing left to do is the paving now, and that's weather dependent, but it looks like we've got a few days ahead of us of great weather,” he tells NEWS 95.7's The Rick Howe Show. “There will be a public service announcement tomorrow coming out from CN and the city, but I'm told we could be reopen next week.”
Similar repairs on the Oakland Street bridge took longer than expected, but Cleary says crews used a different strategy on Quinpool.
“Every time they dug down [on Oakland] they found more stuff that was rotten that they had to get rid of,” he explains. “When they were planning the Quinpool bridge, they planned to bring it right down to the old arch, they reinforced it, poured new concrete overtop of it, waterproofed it and then rebuilt it back up.”
“Given the kind of weather we've had, given the things we've done and given the persistence of the contractor that was on the job — which I've now said, 'Hey can they do all of our city work' — it would be great to have one of these rare projects that comes in on time or even ahead of time.”
As for the budget, HRM is only paying for the paving work. CN is responsible for the rest.
Cleary says the Quinpool bridge should be structurally sound for another 100 years.
There are other bridges over the rail cut that need repairs, including South Street and Jubilee Road, but they aren't on major arteries. Cleary says crews may be able to add temporary bridges in those areas to accommodate the residential traffic.
