The grand opening of the bridge here was held smack in the middle of a structure that cost $3.7-million – with over 200 people attending.
“We’re not sure this bridge was built to hold so many people,” joked county Warden John Green, also the mayor of Mapleton Township, looking at the huge crowd gathered in the middle of the day.
County roads chairman Carl Hall, also from Mapleton, said the ribbon cutting was taking place in the middle of the bridge so people from one side of the community could reintroduce themselves to the other side.
The old bridge was closed on July 4, 2004 after it was deemed to be unsafe.
The old structure was a single span camel back through a Pratt truss, and had a span of 48 metres. The new bridge has three spans of reinforced concrete slabs on prestressed box girders, and span of 62 metres. It is 12.1 meters wide, with a 1.5-metre sidewalk.
Green noted that while the hamlet might have been physically divided, it had not been separated very much in its opinion about where the bridge should be located. Many residents had wanted the old location.
Hall told them that would have cost $4.5-million, and the price would have been impossible for the county to pay.
In the end, the county received help in the form of a COMRIF grant. The federal and provincial governments each paid one-third of the eligible costs, about $1.10-million each.
Hall, who acted as master of ceremonies, said the bridge closing should never have come to pass, and that every year it was noted by county councillors on their road tour that it should be fixed.
“It’s one of those things that should have been done and wasn’t,” Hall said. He also pointed out that it is now the most costly bridge in Wellington County, surpassing the David Street Bridge in Elora, which was replaced a few years ago.
Hall said the county had never borrowed money for a bridge before, but would have been forced to do that in this case if it had not been for the COMRIF grant.
He also noted the county received much cooperation from the Ministry of Environment, Grand River Conservation Authority, and Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and that officials had to take into account everything from plants to wildlife to get all the permits.
But, Hall told the residents, “It’s been you that suffered the ordeal. It’s a lot of miles to get around.”
Perth Wellington MP Gary Schellenberger said the federal government is pleased to have taken part in the COMRIF program and is helping Ontario with over $600-million alone in infrastructure grants this year. He said he particularly likes the sidewalk on one side of the bridge for pedestrian protection.
Waterloo-Wellington MPP Ted Arnott was unable to attend. MPP John Wilkinson, of Perth Middlesex was on hand and noted the provincial government, too, is pleased to take part in COMRIF.
Wilkinson, calling himself “the MPP from the other side of Dorking,” said small communities simply cannot handle such large costs as that bridge, and even the county would be financially strapped to do all the funding, so the province was pleased to help.
He added, “Ted [Arnott] was a great advocate for this bridge.”
Hard Rock Construction, of Stoney Creek, built the bridge. President David Semely noted that his company had only recently completed the Elora bridge, and was pleased to work again with the county on this one.
Bob Stofco, of McCormick Rankin Corporation engineers, was also pleased to be working with the county on another project, and said he is pleased to see this project completed.
When it came time to cut the ribbon, an honour normally reserved for politicians and officials from the companies involved, Green had a surprise for just about everyone.
He walked into the crowd and escorted Helen Diebold front and centre and ensured that she had scissors to cut the ribbon.
He told everyone that Diebold, who turns 90 this year, grew up in Glen Allan and her parents actually owned the stretch of the river that the new bridge now spans.
Diebold said she was honoured to help with the ceremonies, but, “I still miss the old bridge. It was here all my life.”
She noted that she went to the one room Glen Allan School until it closed, as did her siblings.
Diebold was not the only one attending who reminisced and who liked the old bridge location.
Lorraine Kidd was the principal and teacher in the one-room school house, which was located in a grove of trees overlooking the new bridge.
She was at the school from 1955 to 1965, and she noted, “I have quite a few pupils here today,” to see the bridge opening. She said she met one from her grade 8 class, “and she gave me a big hug.”
Kidd, too, grew up in the area. “The back end of our farm is the Conestogo dam,” she said.
As for if the current bride is the best, Kidd said, “They definitely needed a new bridge, but …”
She said she planned to drive over the new structure one her way home to Elmira. She added that with the old bridge closed, “It really separated Glen Allan, and now they’re one again – and that’s nice.”
Sheila Edmanski, now of Kitchener, also grew up in Glen Allan.
She said of the new bridge, “It looks great to me. I just feel bad about the old one. My brothers used to jump off it. We all swam in the river – as long as the cows were downstream.”
She also remembers bathing in the river, bringing a towel and a bar of soap with her.
Current Glen Allan resident Carla Schott said of the new structure, “I love the look.”
Her home is close to the bridge, and she said officials had showed her family the design when they were doing early studies.
“I always liked what they were doing, but I had concerns about the traffic,” she said, referring to a long, sweeping curve that now leads into the village.
Another visitor suggested, “They should have made it four lanes” because growth always means more traffic.
“They’re going to need it bigger.”
