By James Bowler

PHOTOS: St. Louis Bridge will remain closed for the weekend

Jan 4, 2014 | 6:40 AM

It’s going to be another headache for those traveling from St. Louis and further south to Prince Albert this weekend.

Another road closure is holding up Highway 2 after a summer of flooding issues last year closed down two separate sections of the highway.

This time the St. Louis Bridge is to blame for the closure and Doug Wakabayashi with the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure said it’s due to structural damage.

“Our staff noticed a crack going across the driving surface of the bridge,” said Wakabayashi. “So we’ve had bridge engineers that have taken a look at it, and they’ve concluded a more thorough inspection needs to be done to determine the cause of the crack.”

Mayor of the village of St. Louis, Les Rancourt, said he noticed some ministry staff checking out the bridge on Thursday.

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“They were out there looking at it, and they were talking to some local people that were asking questions,” said Rancourt. “They said that there were some structural issues and they were thinking they were going to have to close it down [Thursday] but they made the decision I guess and just did it [Friday].”

Wakabayashi said until the bridge may be closed until early next week while the inspection is done.

“For safety the bridge should be closed at least until that inspection occurs,” said Wakabayashi. “Right now our best estimate is the bridge will be closed until early next week.”

Drivers do have a way around the closed bridge but it’s not exactly a quick jaunt.

“We’ve established a detour via Highway 25 and three through Birch Hills,” said Wakabayashi. “So for southbound traffic leaving Prince Albert, the route would be south on Highway 3 and west on Highway 25, and for northbound traffic its east on Highway 25 and north on Highway 3.”

Wakabayashi said when it comes to the inspection he’s not sure if it will be a ministry worker or outsourced to another company.

“We do have our own bridge engineers that can do these inspections, but from time to time we may also engage consulting engineers too,” said Wakabayashi. “I don’t know at this time exactly who’s doing the inspection.”

The old bridge is in the process of being replaced however the new bridge has not been projected to be finished until the fall after numerous issues with delivery of girders held up construction on the new infrastructure.

jbowler@panow.com

Twitter: @journalistjim