Bluewater Bridge construction could mean long lineups for travellers
The second span of the Blue Water Bridge will undergo a $7 million rehabilitation starting May 29.
And that could mean some longer drive times for travellers.
The first span will be closed, returning traffic to travel in both directions on the bridge.
“It hasn’t been closed for 27 years,” said Blue Water Bridge Director Joe Dedecker of the Federal Bridge Corporation, as he explained the project Tuesday.
The project will involve repairs to main span concrete deck, with both waterproofing and repaving of the bridge. This will reinforce the bridge’s structure.
There will also be concrete sidewalk rehabilitation.
The work is expected to take five months with a completion date of Oct. 25.
Dedecker said rehabilitation took place on the first span of the Blue Water Bridge last year with the work being completed in three months.
In fact work was completed three days before the deadline. Facca Incorporated, the contractor for last year’s rehabilitation project, will also be completing this year’s work.
“We know we can manage the traffic,” said Dedecker. Traffic volumes today are actually lower than the late 1990s, before the second span was built.
And Dedecker says since the pandemic, the passenger vehicle traffic has slowed. Automobile traffic has only been at 72 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, said Dedecker, as he speculated people’s travelling habits have changed. The exchange rate could be having an impact, he said
The majority of the traffic on the Blue Water Bridge is commercial truck traffic. The amount of truck traffic coming across the bridge peaked at the tail end of the pandemic in 2022, as Dedecker said more people were online shopping and those deliveries were being made over the Blue Water Bridge.
The Blue Water Bridge is the second busiest commercial land border crossing in Canada, said Dedecker. Windsor is the busiest.
The Federal Bridge Corporation manages four bridges including one at Cornwall, Sault Ste. Marie and the Thousand Islands Bridge. Out of those four border crossings Blue Water is the busiest.
, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Independent
