Oops, new Thompson Bridge needs quick pavement fix
Seems the county suffered premature celebration last December
Don’t celebrate until you’re sure you’ve crossed the finish line is good advice for any athlete. Online it’s easy to find videos of runners who slowed at the line only to be passed, or receivers celebrating a TD only to be stripped of the ball on the one-yard line.
Apparently, this is good advice for politicians and municipal workers.
Back in early December, Northumberland County celebrated the completion of construction of a new $2.3 million Thompson Bridge on Skinkle Road, northeast of Warkworth.
But it turns out the party for the 25-metre bridge over Percy Creek was just a tad early.
Closer review of the work determined there were problems with the pavement on the north end of the bridge, but it was too late in the season to make repairs.
That’s why the new state-of-the-art modular steel girder bridge will be closed on Friday for paving work.
The original fixed-steel, pony truss bridge was constructed in 1922, and was closed in July 2021 due to safety concerns. Weight restrictions had been in place since 1985.
The county spent $125,000 to have the bridge removed and $2.3 million to build a new one that is still single lane, but the lane is a wider to accommodate farm equipment. The bridge deck is 4.5 metres wide, almost half a metre wider than the previous bridge.
Once all the work is done and approved, the county plans to turn the bridge over to the Municipality of Trent Hills. Neil Allanson, Manager of Roads and Urban Services for Trent Hills, said there were issues with the grade and pavement. “Once all the deficiencies are repaired the bridge will be downloaded to Trent Hills and the tentative date for this is next fall,” he said.
The project involved installing new concrete foundations on 20-metre deep steel piles, new concrete substructures, and a new modular steel girder bridge.
The new bridge was engineered by Jewell Engineering and constructed by GIP Paving.
Municipality should be wary of taking ownership of the bridge. Trent Hills took over the bridge to Nappan Island after Jewell Engineering certified it on the amalgation of Campbellford and Seymour. Approximately twenty years later Trent Hills get stuck with a bill of one point seven million to replace the bridge. I wionder if the Municipality had an engineer report that the old bridge had to be replaced. Joe Watson