Group still hopes for vehicles on Morrissy Bridge

March 9, 2009

The province may not want to own Morrissy Bridge, but a local group still hopes to see it re-open to vehicle traffic.

Newcastle Business District general manager Natalie Bradford said the option of repairing the bridge to make it safe for traffic should be looked at now before it's too late.

"If it is demolished, once it's gone it's gone. There's nothing we can do then."

The Transportation Department planned to demolish the bridge after an engineering study found serious structural defects that made it unsafe for vehicle and pedestrian use.

A local group stepped in to try and convert the bridge to a pedestrian crossing and the province gave it a temporary reprieve until the group could present a plan for the 94-year-old structure.

Since the bridge's closure the city commissioned a study to look at the effects of changes to traffic patterns.

Bradford said some of the study's recommendations could lead to huge expenses for the city.

"How could we expect the city to take on such an expense?"

Depending on the study's findings, it may be more financially feasible to repair and use the bridge instead of spending money on other infrastructure, she said.

"This is all stuff that would have to be discussed further."

Bradford said people are seeing an increased expense to go around the bridges and additional traffic could lead to delays in response times for emergency vehicles.

"The best point that I heard so far was we lost a vital link to our community."

City councillor Rupert Bernard said the study results are ready, but the capital budget took precedence over it for the council and he didn't know what the findings are.

"They haven't been presented to council yet."

Although he wasn't sure when the deadline was for the traffic study, Bernard said it was not on the council's agenda this month.

"That means it will not be reviewed until April if it's on April's agenda."

The original engineering study that lead to the closure estimated repair work needed to make it safe for vehicles would cost over $15 million, which Bernard said wouldn't be feasible for the city.

"We certainly wouldn't be able to consider that alone."

But Bernard said if there are traffic problems, they are good ones to have.

"Traffic problems can be solved, but lack of traffic are more difficult to solve."