Troubled bridge facing partial closure for additional concrete repairs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/12/2018 (1953 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The south Perimeter Highway bridge over the Red River will be partially closed for three weeks to repair cracked concrete.

The province announced Friday morning the bridge will be losing its westbound lanes, starting Sunday, with the goal of being reopened Jan. 4, 2019. During this time, traffic will be confined to the eastbound lanes while concrete is poured and cured.

The province said the repairs are estimated to cost $290,000.

The same lane was also temporarily closed in November, after cracks were found in the deck concrete.

“It’s really frustrating when taxpayers pay for a bridge — and certainly a bridge is not a cheap investment — but when taxpayers pay for an investment like that, they need to be able to use it, that’s the point. They paid for it, they need to be able to use it,” said Todd MacKay, Prairie director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

This is third time the bridge, built in 1958, has recently faced repairs for cracked concrete.

In 2006, it was undergoing major renovations when cracked concrete was found, delaying the project by more than a year. In 2014, similar cracking in the same lane was reported.

The Free Press made multiple attempts to ask the province if the root cause of the issue had been determined, and what was being done to ensure any such repairs would not have to be redone in the near future.

The province responded with a written statement: “It is not unusual for roads and bridges to require ongoing maintenance and repair. Manitoba Infrastructure takes routine inspections seriously, and closed the bridge to traffic when the problem was identified. The repairs being done over the next three weeks have not been made previously and will be fixed by Jan. 4, 2019.”

It is still unclear what caused the recent cracks.

“That’s the reality of construction: things go wrong sometimes. That’s something, of course, you need to take into account. But when those things go wrong, we have to have a discussion of what we’re going to do going forward,” MacKay said. “You know there is a certain amount of risk every time you take on a building project, so who should be bearing that risk?

“Should that be 100 per cent on the taxpayer? If something goes wrong, the taxpayer has to pay for it?”

In a news release Friday, the province thanked the public for its patience and reminded drivers to slow down in construction zones and when construction workers are present.

— with files from Kevin Rollason

danton.unger@freepress.mb.ca