Contractors grinding the deck of the Blue Water Bridge. August 2024. Photo by the Federal Bridge Corporation. Submitted.Contractors grinding the deck of the Blue Water Bridge. August 2024. Photo by the Federal Bridge Corporation. Submitted.
Sarnia

Blue Water Bridge repairs 70% complete

The Federal Bridge Corporation says about 70 per cent of the rehabilitation work on the second span of the Blue Water Bridge has been completed.

Director of Communications Alexandre Gauthier said the project is on schedule and still within budget.

"We are beginning the waterproofing operations," Gauthier said. "This involves applying new waterproof membrane to protect the bridge deck from moisture and this helps extend the lifespan of the bridge. Once that is done we'll be ready to move forward to paving, which is one of the final major steps in the project."

The project has been estimated to cost $7.9 million.

"We removed old asphalt and waterproofing, we repaired the bridge deck, we did full depth and partial depth fixes, we rehabilitated the sidewalks including the curbs and expansion drains," Gauthier said.

The work, which redirects traffic to the original span, started on May 29 and for the most part, Gauthier said traffic has been flowing really well.

"We've seen an increase in both car and truck traffic compared to last year and most days we've experienced minimal delays. So, even though we were operating with one bridge handling traffic in both directions, effective traffic management and cooperation from drivers and our partners kept things running very smoothly," said Gauthier.

Currently, Gauthier said the project is still on track to reopen on October 23 as planned.

"Keeping the FAST (Free and Secure Trade) toll lane open throughout the project has been really great for maintaining steady commercial traffic. We also kept the dedicated local lane open, which seems to have significantly improved the safety as well," he said.

Last year's project involving the original span took about three months to complete and finished two days ahead of schedule.

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