Murray Harbour is getting a new bridge

Murray Harbour is getting a new bridge.

The province recently replaced the sidewalk on the bridge that crosses Main Street, and during that work discovered more needed to be done.

• Temporary sidewalk causes concern in Murray Harbour

"[After]further investigation we realized that there was more deteriorationthat we saw and the cost to really fix that to make it last a few more years, would certainly be almost as much to build a whole new bridge," said StephenYeo, chief engineer for the Department of Transportation.

The province plans to get to work mid-July, when a temporary bridge will be installed.

"That's going to go on the harbour side of the bridge we'll say, and there will be a single span, single vehicle traffic in just one direction," said Yeo.

"We'll have lights, signalised lights at either end to control the traffic, and that will prevent the local traffic and visitors from going on an 18-kilometre detour. "

The temporary bridge should open at the end of August and will be in place until the new bridge is finished, which the province hopes will be in mid-December. The temporary bridge will then be taken out, with the aim of the whole project finishing by the opening of fishing season in April.

The new bridge will be approximately the same size as the current bridge, but it will have a higher clearance to the water.

Aesthetics important sayresidents

Design was a concern to some residents that came out to a public meeting about the project on Thursday night.

"This bridge is quite important to us, because it's not a bridge that is being set in a rural environment.It's really in the heart of our village," said Coun.Derek Squirell

"For us as locals we really enjoy it. There's a lot of movement across that bridge and we're looking for a bridge that's going to have a little bit more than a rural bridge. And we're looking at perhaps some ornamental street lights, and better barrier on either side, that meet code but still allow us to take in the visual scenery up and down the river."

Yeo saidthe Department of Transportation will continue to work with the council to do their best to achieve that.

"We design bridges to carry traffic and heavy loads, and we have to meet all the bridge codes of Canada so that's the first priority from our perspective," he said

"But we understand from this public meeting that there's concerns. They want it to look nice at the end of the day, and we'll work with council to try to put some things in place that, we'll say, pretties up the bridge a bit," he said

The province is waiting on environment approvals and approvals from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Tenders for the project will go out in May, and will close at the end of that month.

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