ELORA – Cars will once again be able to drive over the Grand River into Elora as the new Badley Bridge has reopened to traffic.
Just after 4 p.m. on Friday, the construction crew and local residents took a celebratory march across the bridge in celebration.
Then the first few cars began to cross over after having to reroute around Wellington Road 7 to get downtown for almost a year.
“The county is pleased that we are able to get the bridge opened and reconnect downtown Elora to vehicle traffic across the river,” said Joe de Koning, County of Wellington construction manager.
Centre Wellington mayor Kelly Linton said by email that he is also pleased to see the important connection reopen.
“Completing this massive project in the middle of COVID-19 is a significant achievement," Linton said.
"Many thanks to our County team of professionals, including county engineer Don Kudo and our County Construction Manager Joe de Koning, and our bridge building partner Lobby Construction for getting us to this important day.”
The crossing has been closed since early January and the nearly 70-year-old bridge was torn down shortly after.
Replacing the bridge has been an approximately $7.25 million project but repairs to the iconic structure were estimated to be double.
Through the pandemic, the bridge stayed on schedule besides a few week setback in mid-fall due to bad weather.
Looby, contractor on the project, finished clean-up and placed a temporary concrete barrier wall to protect the east side of the bridge on Friday.
The bridge isn’t fully finished to date. Further construction includes installing the gateway feature, completion of the east side bridge railing and retaining walls.
“I understand that the bridge will be completely done in the next couple months including the installation of the bridge gateway features," Linton said. "Hopefully, we are able to have a proper ribbon-cutting at this time.”
