Overpass work to put squeeze on local traffic

News — 14 July 2010

With the King St. underpass closed completely for one day, and down to one lane for another four days, Dryden residents will get a taste of the inconvenience that the Duke St. overpass closure will bring.

With a complete closure beginning on Monday, July 19, the overpass will be torn down and reconstructed with a reopening of October 15.

“We’re hoping to have it reopened earlier than that, but we can’t promise anything,” says Blake Poole, Manager of Capital Planning and Technology for the City of Dryden.

Traffic congestion is definitely a fear for residents and the city alike, with detours including Gordon Road, Sandy Beach Road, and the King St. underpass.

“I think traffic might be a concern for the first week or so, until people get used to it,” says Poole. “People will find alternate routes, find how many extra minutes they need to get to work.”

Four portable variable message signs will be installed at different entrances to the city, giving traffic advanced notice of the bridge closure and the alternate routes available to them. Traffic, lights and signs will all be monitored by the city throughout the three-month period.

With the exception of the pier structure underneath, the entire bridge which was built in 1963, will be demolished. Everything is being replaced, including the approach slabs, the bridge deck, girders, structural steel, new asphalt, sidewalk and railings. The new bridge will be relatively the same size as the existing structure.

“It was deteriorating, it wasn’t in danger of collapse or anything, but the structural steel and the concrete were deteriorating,” states Poole.

With 90 per cent of funding coming from the Province of Ontario through its Connecting Link funding, as a provincial connector road, the city will only have to pay the remaining 10 per cent of the costs.

No temporary alternate routes will be made available across the tracks, as there could be a year or more of a wait to have the process approved and prepared by CP Rail.

CP Rail will have a flagman onsite at all times of construction, stopping work while trains are traveling beneath. Plans are being made to have a crane brought in, housing a very large container, to catch debris as the existing structure is demolished.

- Ally Dunham

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