The $106-million Nipigon River Bridge is set to open – again.
Minister of Northern Development and Mines Michael Gravelle on Wednesday announced the span will be cleared on Thursday for the return of two-way traffic, more than six weeks after bolt failures forced its closure to traffic in both directions.
A temporary fix has been in place since early January allowing traffic to flow on one lane while permanent repairs were made to the cable-stayed bridge, which opened in late 2015.
“Our government’s priority has always been the safety of the public. The investigation into the cause of the January 11thincident is ongoing. I look forward to sharing the results of the investigation as soon as possible. We encourage drivers to continue to exercise caution and obey all signs while travelling through the construction zone,” Gravelle said in a release.
In an interview with CKPR Radio, the minister said the investigation into what went wrong is still ongoing.
“We’re still waiting to hear the results from the two research labs that are looking at what did cause the bridge failure,” Gravelle said. “I’m hoping we’ll have that relatively soon, because that’s obviously important moving forward.
“But as of now at least we know the work that was done to get the two lanes open has been done. The concrete weight was moved from the bridge deck.”
