Emergency repair on MacKay Bridge highlights further work to be done in coming years
Emergency repairs shut down part of the MacKay Bridge in Halifax after a crack was detected in a steel truss.
The issue was discovered Wednesday night by a painting crew. Halifax Harbour Bridges (HHB) says the engineering team was alerted, at which time a partial closure took place in order to get repairs done.
The bridge commission says the crack was smaller than two centimetres in length. No other cracks were found, and it says there was no threat to safety.
The bridge fully reopened around 5:30 a.m. Thursday.
HHB CEO Tony Wright says bridge closures aren’t taken lightly and there will likely be more over the next several years to deal with maintenance on the aging bridges.
“At present we’re going through what we refer to as a seal and paint program, where we’re taking all the steel back down to bare steel and then recoating it, and along the way doing structural repairs to it. Replacing the bearings and expansion joints, and essentially when we`re done that program we’ll have a new MacDonald Bridge,” said Wright.
Wright says a lot of the work in recent years have been focused on the MacDonald Bridge – mostly notably the ‘Big Lift.’
That project began in 2015 and saw all 46 deck segments replaced over roughly two years.
It’s now something being considered for the MacKay.
“We refer to that as a major rehabilitation project, and we`re evaluating the feasibility of doing the rehabilitation similar to what we`ve done on the MacDonald Bridge,” said Wright. “Although, this particular bridge, the MacKay, was built substantially different. It was built very economically back in the seventies, but we need to do our homework and see if it`s possible.”
More closures are expected this summer on both bridges as part of the commission’s $40 million capital renewal, although it’s too early to say how many and when.
For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.