By Sarah Wallace

Timeline for reopening of St. Louis Bridge still uncertain

Jan 7, 2014 | 5:38 AM

It’s not what residents of St. Louis wanted to hear heading in to the weekend.

On Friday, the St. Louis bridge was closed to traffic after a large crack was found on the driving surface of the bridge.

Doug Wakabayashi, assistant director of communications for the ministry of highways and infrastructure, said ministry crews survey the bridge on a regular basis because of its age which is how the crack was found.

“Early last week [crews] noticed some damage to the roadway on the bridge, our engineers took a preliminary look at it and on Friday determined that the bridge would need to be closed until a more thorough inspection can be completed,” Wakabayashi said.

There was no weight restrictions on the bridge at the time the crack was located but the ministry felt it was prudent to close the bridge once the crack was located.

Lighting it up

P.A.'s Zablocki leads Regina to victory on Day 4 at Esso Cup

11h ago

WORLD SOFTBALL

Group stages officially set for Men's Softball World Cup in P.A.

17h ago

Safety first

Safety concerns and tips surrounding discarded needles in P.A.

Apr 23, 2024

“The bridge will remain closed at least until we determine what’s caused the damage and right now we have had engineers doing inspections on site on today and depending on what they find further inspections may be required. We understand the inconvenience this causes to people but it’s difficult to speculate on a timeline until we know what’s caused the damage to the bridge,” he said.

The bridge is about 100 years old and Wakabayashi said it’s close to the end of its service life which is why they are building the new St. Louis Bridge.

“Until we have determined what has caused the damage to the bridge our engineers believe it’s prudent to keep the bridge closed for the time being.”

The ministry does the inspection, but it may bring in other consultant engineers if required.

The girders for the new bridge will be installed over the winter and Wakabayashi anticipates opening the new bridge to traffic in the fall.

“The bridge has been closed for safety reasons and we have established a detour via Highways 25 and 3 and we’ll try and get the bridge open as soon as we can but we need to make sure we know what’s causing the cracking on the bridge before we do so,” he finished.

paNOW attempted to contact St. Louis MLA Delbert Kirsch for a comment, but was instead forwarded to the Ministry of Highways.

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid