The people of Fergus have dealt with bridge woes in the recent past, and don’t look forward to more of the same any time soon. But that is most likely what they can expect.
After a rebuild of the Tower Street Bridge two years ago - work that threw the community into traffic chaos and had a negative impact on downtown businesses - St. David Street Bridge is now the subject of worry and warnings in the town.
The bridge also needs to be replaced, at a cost of about $2.8 million. It may qualify for renewed provincial Connecting Links funding. A decision on that is expected in March.
Last week, Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott went to bat for Fergus, advocating at Queen’s Park for the Ministry of Transportation to support the rebuild of the important bridge. Centre-Wellington has made an application for Connecting Links funding.
The bridge is a vital link in the Highway 6 chain that connects southern-most parts of southern Ontario to the northern-most parts. It starts in Hamilton, meets Lake Huron at Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula, and continues across Manitoulin Island to its terminus in Espanola.
At the height of the tourist season the bridge is the primary way to get over the Grand River in Fergus to points north, and is often bottlenecked. It is in bad need of replacement.
“If the engineers say there’s only two to three years of life left for heavy transport trucks to go over it, I have to go with the engineers,” said Fergus resident Peter Mandic, as he walked his dog near the bridge on Saturday.
A Township of Centre Wellington report this month warned that the bridge was so deteriorated that load restrictions may be needed within the next two to three years. The bridge took a pounding while Tower Street Bridge was being rebuilt. St. David Street is an artery for heavy transport truck traffic. On a typical day the bridge is used by an average of 14,000 vehicles, including transports.
“Highway 6 is a very important line-life in southern Ontario, and for this community,” Mandic said. “It’s important to take care of our infrastructure, especially this bridge.”
In a press release, Arnott warned that placing load restrictions on the bridge would result in traffic chaos. He strongly supports the application for provincial funding.
Connecting Link provides up to 90 per cent of the cost of necessary road and bridge work on municipal roads that connect communities to provincial highways and border crossings. There are about 350 kilometres of these connecting links in the province, in nearly 80 communities.
The province canceled the program in 2013, but in November of last year announced an infusion of $15 million back into it. Arnott pushed to have the program restored, citing the dilapidated state of the St. David Street bridge as an example of why it is needed.
“While we are pleased that the Government recognized that canceling the program in the first place was a mistake, the $15 million commitment to the new Connecting Link program is considerably less that what the Government has spent in some previous years under the old program,” Arnott stated in the release.
He pointed out that the government allocated $24.3 million in 2009-10 to Connecting Link.
“I hope that the Minister listens and approves the funding for the replacement of the St. David Street Bridge,” Mr. Arnott said.
Jackie Fraser owns Fraberts Fresh Foods in Fergus. The business is a doors down from the bridge.
“It is necessary to rebuild it,” she said. “It’s in very rough shape and it is time to do it.”
Fraser said St. David Street Bridge took “an extra beating” when Tower Street Bridge was being replaced, and that contributed to its deterioration.
“If there are load restrictions placed on it, certain trucks couldn’t come through,” she said, adding that the economy of Fergus would be negatively impacted. “I agree with Ted Arnott that the bridge meets the requirements of the Connecting Links program, and that it should be funded.”
