New Collingwood Street Bridge will include steel trusses
The County of Simcoe is proceeding with the replacement of the Collingwood Street Bridge in Creemore.
As part of the construction process, the county is hosting a public information session at the Creemore Arena from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13 at the Creemore Arena, to inform the public about upcoming construction activity and the design of the new bridge.
County of Simcoe general manager of engineering, planning and environment Debbie Korolnek said people are invited to talk to staff and view renderings of the new bridge.
The bridge is to be replaced by a two-lane concrete structure with a sidewalk on one side. It will be topped with the refurbished original steel trusses.
“We recognize that heritage wise, it’s valuable to the people in that community. We respect that and we want to preserve that character so that’s why we are doing it that way,” said Korolnek. “Creemore is a beautiful community and I completely understand why people like the bridge. It’s a beautiful piece of infrastructure. Unfortunately it is really old and it’s really corroded and it’s just not serving its purpose anymore so we are going to do our best to make it look aesthetically pleasing and preserve the character and make it much safer and longer lasting than what’s there now.”
The county is required to hold a public information session 60 days before construction begins, to explain the work and how it will affect traffic.
The work can begin as of July 13. The in-water work must be done by the end of September, as not to disturb fish spawning. Korolnek said out-of-water work will continue into the fall.
The county is in the process of finalizing a contract with Premier Concrete at a cost of $1.8 million.
“Almost $400,000 of that is for remounting the existing overhead trusses on to the new bridge to try to retain the historical feel of the original bridge,” said Korolnek.
The project’s total budget, including administration, environmental assessment, design work and a contingency fund, is $2.25 million.
One of the safety inadequacies of the existing bridge, said Korolnek, is its shape. The new bridge will be lowered one metre to eliminate a hump that prevents drivers approaching the bridge to see vehicles already on the bridge.
“We’ll take that hump out to improve the safety and the sightline,” she said.
The county is proceeding with the bridge replacement after a deal to transfer the bridge to Clearview Township fell through last week. Council passed on the deal because there wasn’t enough money on the table.
