Repairs to the Williams Creek Bridge are expected to reach completion before the new year.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has completed its initial assessment of the damage with engineers and is now awaiting a design plan.
“We’re hoping that as soon as [this] week we can begin work on site, as far as cleaning up some of the damage,” district manager of transportation Darrell Gunn says. “Then we’ll be able to start making the repairs.”
The work will include upgrades and pile driving on the south abutment. “We’ll be doing this in a different fashion than before,” Gunn says. “The structure will look the same, but it will definitely be an improvement and be more resilient to future [storm] events.”
The bridge was damaged during flooding last month when close to 120mm of rain fell in a two-day period. The surging water in Williams Creek cut into the embankment beneath the south end abutment to the single-lane bridge. The land eventually gave way and ripped out a five-foot length of road, weakening the bridge’s pilings in the process.
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One car was precariously hung-up on the edge of the collapsed roadway but the driver escaped the vehicle without injury.
“It’s all barricaded off now, and hopefully all the work will be done before the end of the year. At the latest, early January,” Gunn says, adding the Jackpine Flats Residents Association will receive regular updates on the work in progress.