‘Big dig’, bridge repairs could be double trouble for drivers

The $1.25 million makeover for the Diefenbaker Bridge will go ahead later this year, with the City of Prince Albert looking at ways to reduce traffic interruptions resulting from this and the planned “big dig.”

No start date has been set for the bridge work, which the City is look to time to coincide with the roadwork that will be happening at the foot of the bridge after the May long weekend. The “big dig” will see crews remove and replace the more than century-old water and sewer lines under Second Avenue West, between the bridge and 15th Street West.

“Our plan is to [have] as limited disruption as we can,” Mayor Greg Dionne told council on Monday afternoon.

In a special meeting, council approved the agreement between the City and the ministry of highways and infrastructure to repair the Diefenbaker Bridge’s guard rails and splash guards. The ministry is funding the repairs through the Urban Highway Connector Program, which funds maintenance and repair work for urban roads that connect to provincial highways.

The City also plans to replace adjacent sidewalks and curbs on Second Avenue West, and remove a set of street lights in the process.

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“So, it’s quite a project that we’re doing,” Dionne said after the meeting, and he added that it’s not just about digging and putting new pipes in the ground.

With the two roadwork projects running in tandem, one side of the street and then the other will be closed to traffic. The traffic restrictions are expected to be in place for up to four months.

Dionne said the City is considering a parking ban and the removal of part of the centre median in order to create a third lane of traffic. At the beginning of long weekends, two lanes could accommodate northbound traffic and one would accommodate southbound vehicles. At the end of the long weekend, there would be two southbound lanes and one northbound lane.

“Because our biggest headache, of course, is long-weekend traffic,” he said.

The west side of Second Avenue West and the bridge will be the first to undergo repairs. Dionne explained this is because the water and sewer lines are located on this side of the street. The closure will also affect the west side for a longer period of time than the east side of Second Avenue West.

Along with the traffic disruptions, Dionne forsees restrictions on oversized and wide loads. He said these vehicles may end up going across the bridge at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m., before the roadwork begins for the day.

And a longer workday is something the City is looking at to help speed along the projects.

The City has issued a request for proposal for the “big dig”, calling for potential contractors to send their bids for the Second Avenue West project. One of the City’s requirements is that the contractor’s crews work 16-hour days.

“For us, we’re going to operate as long as we can. We’re going to abide by the noise bylaw and shut down at 10 [p.m.] and re-start at seven in the morning,” Dionne said, adding that the worksite would be right next to a residential area.

It’s not only disruptions to regular and long-weekend traffic that the City is concerned about. City officials plan to meet the Prince Albert Fire Department, Prince Albert Police Service and Parkland Ambulance to discuss how to provide emergency services north of the bridge, according to Dionne.

Fire Chief Jason Everitt told council that the fire department will have the option of accessing “mutual aid” from Buckland Fire and Rescue while the lane restrictions are in place on the bridge.

But a project intended to repair the look of a bridge that appears to be in a state of disrepair – crumbling splash guards and shaky pedestrian guard rails – is causing one councillor to be concerned about the city’s own image.

Coun. Martin Ring said travellers facing significant delays will think the City of Prince Albert has a problem with its bridge again. He added the City has to give the public as much information as it can in advance.

“It’s not that I want to discourage people from travelling through the City of Prince Albert, but that is the reality, and I think that this is kind of the perfect storm.”

He referenced the crossing study presented to members of city council in November that illustrated the effect that varying degrees of lane restrictions, or even a bridge shutdown, could have on the city’s economy. 

In that study, researcher Paul Christensen estimated that during each day of a lane closure, the city’s economy would lose $21,000 to $267,000.

“And we know there is a significant financial impact to our city, to our businesses in our city and to our residents, and this is the perfect storm, because it’s talked about in that study,” Ring told council on Monday.

“You know, we have to repair the bridge that we’ve got, we still have to be focused on a second river crossing, because this bridge isn’t going to last forever. But we have to repair what we have as well. There isn’t perfect timing for this.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames