Bruce County’s Transportation & Environmental Services Committee was able to hear an environmental assessment report from staff regarding the replacement project for the Durham Street Bridge.
They were also provided with four possible options for how to reroute both pedestrians and vehicle traffic in order to proceed with the project, which is expected to take up to 18 months to complete.
The first option was to create a detour around the work using county roads, which would affect both local traffic and truck traffic.
In the second option, the idea was to use a local detour using a combination of Brockton roads and county roads, as well as provide improvements and transit options for pedestrians.
For the third option, the work would include a temporary vehicle bridge, which would connect McNab Street and Orange Street. The estimated cost of a temporary bridge and the work would be $6.3 million, plus engineering.
In the fourth and final option presented, crews would create a temporary pedestrian bridge just south of the existing bridge, and still connect McNab and Orange Streets, which would cost $2.6 million, plus engineering.
While considering the given choices, it was explained that the new Durham Street Bridge would be more costly than the Bailey Bridge, mostly because of the need for a centre support pier.
When asked by Councillor Steve Hammel if there were other potential options where a temporary bridge was created just north of the existing bridge, and then rerouting traffic, or potentially just building a new bridge and using the existing one during the work.
Engineering Manager Adam Stanley explained that those options weren’t feasible.
“Those alternatives didn’t come forward in the [environmental assessment],” according to Stanley. “It was looked at for a couple of locations, and the span was very similar in that 75-77 metre [range].”
The issue with creating a bridge to the north would include the acquisition of land, and widening the road, which would add its own challenges.
Stanley also said that there also wasn’t the option to build a bridge at a narrower point, which would have allowed the construction of a bridge that did not require a centre support pier.
“The initial costs calculated by our consultant was roughly about an additional $3 million, which is a bulk of the difference between what the Paisley bridge costs and the costs and the costs for this temporary bridge.”
The main issue is that the Durham Street Bridge requires more attention because of environmental constraints, particularly when it comes to working in the water.
Warden Chris Peabody, who is also the mayor of Brockton, told staff that he would like to see additional alternatives to the work that was proposed.
His council heard the same report on June 6th.
Work is expected to begin in the spring of 2025, and be completed by the fall of 2026.