A popular landmark spanning the St. John River is about to undergo a large-scale renovation.
The Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge in Fredericton was built for train travel back in 1889, before being reimagined for foot traffic in 1997.
But time is taking a toll. Documents obtained by CTV News in 2016 showed that two piers on the bridge had advanced concrete deterioration and that wood ties were rotting away.
“Bottom parts of it that hold it looks like it could use a little bit of repair,” says bridge-user Mickayla Wheatley. “There's a little bit of a outcropping about halfway throughout that they've shut down because it looks a little unstable.”
The municipal, provincial and federal governments are pledging $1.3 million each for a $3.9-million renovation to rebuild the wood ties underneath, along with the installation of new decking.
Repairs on up to three of the bridge piers have already begun.
Fredericton Mayor Mike O'Brien says the bridge will need to be shut down temporarily.
“We're hoping that they may be able to come up with something where you may have to close it for a couple days, remove one part, rebuild it, open it and start of, so we'll try to cause as little disruption as possible,” says O’Brien. “As I said, 600,000 crossings a year on this bridge. We want to find a way to make it as painless as possible.”
The bulk of the work is expected to be carried out in 2018.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore.
.
