The City of Morden gave an update on two bridges closed to traffic since spring of this year due to damage caused by overland flooding. The Alvey Street and Parkhill Drive bridges were closed at that time.
Deputy City Manager of Operations, Santokh Randawa, explained what has happened since then.
"The DFA program (Disaster Financial Assistance) approved the reconstruction of Alvey Bridge in July and we have awarded the pre-design work for those to WSP, after the confirmation from the DFA program."
The Parkhill bridge was approved for repairs through the DFA, but the city received special permission from the Province of Manitoba to apply the funding to a full replacement of the bridge as well.
Randawa added, demolition of both bridges will take place before November 15th. He continued to share some of the next steps in the process.
"Preliminary design is expected next week and then detailed design and tenders by December. We will have tenders advertised early January, that is the plan, and foundation work happening before the spring melt and then rest of the work to be completed by June or July. The same kind of timelines will apply for Park Hill Bridge as well."
When asked if the public needs to be aware of anything else, Randawa responded
"No, they're closed for traffic, both the bridges. Alternate routes are already in place, so there will be no change to that. The bridges will stay closed for winter as well, because we will be demolishing them in the next month to have them prepped for foundation work before the spring melt."