It’s going to take a little longer to open up the Portage Bay Bridge to traffic.
Initially it was hoped it would be open by Christmas.
But Director of Engineering and Infrastructure Greg Breen says it looks like the early part of 2026 is more realistic.
“In the Portage Bay Bridge’s current state, with some steel members, having some severe corrosion, they (engineers) weren’t able to approve a scaffolding plan to get started in October, like we thought.”
Now the engineers will have to draft a new scaffolding plan.
Breen adds it will cost a bit more to do the rehabilitation work on the bridge.
“We had a $600,000 approval to complete the interim repairs on the Portage Bay Bridge. When did finally get the pricing back on that, it came in at just over a million (dollars). So, the steelwork itself was more expensive than we anticipated.”
He says the company that’s doing work on the Keewatin Channel Bridge is also work on the Portage Bay Bridge project.
Breen suggest the budget for the Keewatin Channel Bridge is pretty robust at over $9 million dollars, so he’s confident any overages on the Portage Bay Bridge should be able to come out of the contingency fees on that Keewatin Channel Bridge project.
