The City of Winnipeg expects to pay up to $1 million to repair the Arlington Bridge, but the work is only expected to prevent the structure from falling down onto the rail yard below it, not to help demolish or reopen it.
A new tender seeks a company to replace multiple bearings on the bridge, which was suddenly shut down in November after an assessment found significant steel corrosion and structural issues.
The traffic closure remains in effect, while an engineering study set to provide recommendations on whether council should demolish, repair or replace the bridge is expected this fall.
MIKE SUDOMA/FREE PRESS
Coun. Janice Lukes said she believes Arlington Bridge will likely be replaced, ideally with access for trucks, buses, pedestrians and cyclists.
Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, said the new repair work should take place this summer.
“Until we decide to take it down or replace it… the bridge is there. What has degraded are bearings on the bridge that allow the bridge to expand and contract based on the weather. The current ones have rusted and solidified… So they’ve put an order out for these bearings and it’s basically to prevent it from falling down,” said Lukes (Waverley West).
The councillor said a report with options for the bridge’s future will come out around October.
Lukes said each bearing is expensive and the construction work will be complex, since removing any piece of a bridge must be done with extreme caution, especially at this location.
“Even though the bridge is closed, it is over an active rail line. Clearly, we’ve got obligations to the rail line also to be safe,” she said. “If you take out a piece of a bridge, you have to make sure the rest of it doesn’t fall down.”
While noting she’s still waiting for the engineering report to make a final decision, Lukes said she believes the bridge will likely be replaced, ideally with access for trucks, buses, pedestrians and cyclists.
“I think I’m pretty confident in saying we’re going to be doing a replacement of some kind. It’s a critical link to north and south. If we can start using it more for trucking also, it’s going to relieve some pressures,” she said.
The councillor said she’s not sure if the bridge could remain at its current location or if it would have to move. Since the span closed, traffic has ramped up on McPhillips Street and the bridge on Salter Street.
A tender document notes the city is seeking a company to replace bearings at three piers of the bridge, which a city spokeswoman said is urgently needed.
“We anticipate the repair project to cost up to $1 million. This includes engineering, materials, and construction. The repair is considered urgent to keep the bridge standing and underlying railway property safe… If we do not replace (the bearings) now, unintended stress will build up in the truss; such stress puts bridge stability at risk,” wrote Julie Horbal Dooley, in an emailed statement.
Mayor Scott Gillingham said the repair is necessary to keep the area safe.
Gillingham said he’ll wait for the engineering report’s recommendations to council before sharing his views on the bridge’s future.
“I need to wait for the report to see what the report is recommending. Obviously, traffic in and out of Winnipeg’s North End and the movement of vehicles is very important. So we need to make decisions with that in mind as well,” he said.
The city expects to award the construction contract by June 28 and have the winning bidder achieve “total performance” by Sept. 11.
The bridge was suddenly closed to all traffic on Nov. 21, after a condition assessment. The inspection was part of a viability study for the 112-year-old structure, which allows traffic to cross over the Canadian Pacific Railway yards.
At the time of the closure, a city official told reporters some repairs would be required just to keep railway workers and property under the bridge safe.
Brad Neirinck, manager of engineering for public works, said safety risks were rising at the bridge prior to the closure, though it wasn’t in immediate danger.
“We don’t want to get to the point that there’s a collapse,” he said at the time. “We’re not near that point… but there’s things (we’ve) got to do to mitigate the risk and make sure that the structural integrity is there.”
In 2016, city engineers deemed the bridge, which opened to traffic in 1912, to be near the end of its life. In 2019, a preliminary design estimated a new bridge could cost $319 million.
Gillingham said there’s no updated cost estimate for a new bridge, which could be considerably higher now, due to rising construction costs over the past five years.
Over the past decade, the city has devoted about $3.6 million for studies on whether to repair or replace the bridge.
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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