By James Bowler

St. Louis Bridge project moving forward again

Nov 27, 2013 | 11:31 AM

The girders have arrived and they're hoping to start installing them in January at the earliest, if the ice is thick enough, at the St. Louis Bridge.

This is the latest update from the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure about the construction of the new St. Louis Bridge after the original girders were damaged. That happened when two of the trucks transporting them from Manitoba were involved in accidents before they reached the Saskatchewan border in early February.

The project stalled once again in April with more delivery hold ups from Capital Steel, the Winnipeg company contracted to manufacture and deliver the girders to the small community.

“The project was delayed because those girders took a while to get there,” said Joel Cherry, a spokesperson for the ministry, who confirmed the girders have now arrived safely.

“The girders have all been in place since the end of October,” said Cherry.

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He said now it’s a matter of waiting for the water to freeze enough to hold the heavy equipment necessary to lift the girders onto the bridge.

“Once the river freezes up and we can use the water as a frozen platform to put cranes on the ice and lift the beams into place they’ll be able to work on it then,” said Cherry.

“They’re going to work on the actual placing the beams on the bridge and we hope to have all the work done by next fall.”

He said the ice probably won’t be strong enough to handle the cranes until January.

Cherry added that some grading has been done on Highway 25 and Highway 2 to meet the road up where the new bridge will be built and that new portion of road will be paved in the spring.

The original completion date of 2012 was pushed back due to steel shortage and environmental concerns over a nesting area of threatened species of birds.

jbowler@panow.com

On Twitter: @journalistjim