It’ll be several more months before Halifax Harbour Bridges can say, with certainty, that the Big Lift is actually over.
The bridge will be closed overnight this week and next.
That’s not a surprise, what is, is that there will be another two months of unexpected closures in the summer.
Halifax Harbour Bridges CEO Steve Snider says commuters should expect four nights of closures this week, and four next, from 8 p.m. until 5:30 a.m.
But it’s not quite the end, more overnight closures are coming this summer.
“The contractor will have to go through a series of finishing steps. Working on the main cables, again more work at the top of the towers, working on the dehumidification system,” he explains, “then, towards the end of that, installing three working platforms on the underside of the bridge.”
It will take about eight to ten weeks, beginning around the end of June.
Snider says they knew it would be several weeks of work, but didn’t necessarily plan on it trickling into the summer months.
“A little disappointing but not overly surprising,” he adds. “This is a huge project, we started planning this project eight years ago, nine years ago, and we’re getting to the end. I mean, who’s done a home renovation and had it finish ahead of schedule and under budget?”
As for transit, buses will use the same detours as the last time the bridge was closed.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown.
