A delay in the Big Lift project on Halifax’s MacDonald Bridge means the bridge will remain open this weekend.
A significant step in replacing the suspended spans of the 60-year-old bridge was scheduled to happen this weekend, but late Thursday night the weekend plan to install a temporary deck connection was postponed.
That temporary deck will allow people to continue to drive across the bridge while the work is being done. The Big Lift aims to extend the life of the bridge, and make way for larger ships beneath it.
“With a bridge of this sort, you normally would be building the whole thing without any traffic, and then putting traffic on it,” said Jon Eppell, the project’s lead engineer. “But we're actually taking it apart, kind of like a Lego set, and putting it back together.”
Bridge officials say they’re just not ready to proceed. But work on the project will continue and the bridge will be closed next weekend.
“This is critical to being in a position to actually do the project,” said Eppell.
Eppell says the bridge will be closed for 12 weekends over the next 12 months.
This is only the second time a lift of this kind has been done. The first was on the MacDonald’s sister bridge, the Lion’s Gate in Vancouver.
“One of the reasons that we're requiring the first segments to be done on weekends is because we know in Vancouver they encountered some difficulties with how long it took them to get that done,” Eppell said.
Eventually, the crew hopes to be able to do the work overnight.
“This is a very exciting project, and as we move through it I think people will be really interested to watch it happen,” said Eppell.
But people will have to wait another week for that.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kayla Hounsell.
