A rehabilitation project for the Front Street Upper Bridge that would continue to accommodate vehicle and pedestrian traffic is moving forward.
That decision was made by Belleville City Council at its meeting on Monday.
In her report to council, Manager of Engineering Deanna O’Leary said that several parts of the bridge. constructed sometime around 1930, are in a state of significant deterioration including the arches, abutments, pier, sidewalks and barriers, and deck joints.
City staff made the recommendation to have the bridge continue to accommodate vehicle and pedestrian traffic based on results from a traffic impact study.
According to the report, if a new brand new bridge was constructed today, it would be “reasonable to expect” a replacement structure would cost in the range of $15 million.
The rehabilitation project would cost over $4.1 million.
Councillor Garnet Thompson said he personally would have liked to see the structure turn into a pedestrian only bridge, asking about what the workload would look like in rehabilitating the bridge.
O’Leary said that a pedestrian only bridge was looked at by the engineering design consultant overseeing the traffic study.
“Part of the rehabilitation is replacement of the sidewalks and the pedestrian barriers on the sidewalks,” O’Leary explained.
“So if you were to rehabilitate it, diverting pedestrians to where the asphalt is, where vehicles are now, you would have to close off the sidewalk, or, you know, take them off. Eventually, maybe they’re going to fall into disrepair and then you’d be looking at introducing some kind of pedestrian barrier between the arches, which would then change the aesthetics of the bridge and may trigger our heritage evaluation.”
Councillor Thompson asked about putting up a gate at the bridge in order to close off vehicle access during events in the downtown.
It was noted by Director of Transportation for the city, Joe Reid, the shutting down that road for events would cost anywhere between $3,000 and $5,000 each time.
O’Leary said that while that idea was not something currently in the rehabilitation plan, it was something city staff could look at.
“I think what we would do is come up with a plan for a gate, or however we want to close the bridge off, and bring that back for council consideration on the cost,” O’Leary said.
“The gate might be more expensive than we first anticipate.”
Thompson said that the gate may be expensive at first, but may pay off in the long run.
“If (the bridge) closes off at three or four times a year, that’s $10 to $15,000. So the gates may be $10,000, but it might be the best deal we’ll ever get. So I would certainly like to see the staff look at a gate system for that bridge.”
Council carried the motion.
