NIPIGON, Ont. – The Ontario government has decided there's no need to continue looking for a possible alternative crossing over the Nipigon River.
A planning study and environmental assessment were announced in 2016 in the wake of the failure of part of the newly-constructed Nipigon River Bridge on Highway 11/17.
A consulting engineering firm was hired, and by late 2018 the study had progressed to public meetings where several potential alternative routes were shown on maps.
But a Ministry of Transportation spokesperson says a decision has since been made to "wind down the study."
The spokesperson told Dougall Media "the risk assessment undertaken as part of the study determined that another bridge closure was highly unlikely," and that "an alternative route across the river no longer needs to be considered."
When a portion of the decking on the bridge heaved in January 2016, it brought Trans-Canada Highway traffic to a standstill for about 17 hours.
However in November 2018, the second span with two additional lanes was opened.
In an interview this week, Nipigon Mayor Richard Harvey noted "so if they have to close down half the bridge, the other half can stay open. The analysis suggested that from a financial perspective, it wasn't worth it for the low likelihood of it happening again."
Harvey said tabletop exercises have also been conducted, looking at what could be done "if there was a catastrophic failure" of the whole bridge.
"So there are alternative ideas on how to get traffic moving again if that were to happen, without having a permanent road," he said.
Harvey said he expects a mixed reaction in the Nipigon area to the abandonment of the study.
"Some people are going to be very upset. They believe this is a very important issue. You have others who feel it is not."
Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle is among the disappointed.
He was the minister of Northern Development when the study was launched.
Gravelle said he's surprised it's been abandoned, given the amount of work that's been done to date.
He said he still believes it's wise to prepare an emergency route over the river.
"I'm not happy at all. I'm going to be reaching out to the minister [Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney] to see if I can get her to re-think it," he said.
