The problem of crumbling infrastructure hit home in Centre Wellington Township again on Monday when the township closed another bridge.
Township officials have to maintain 104 bridges and about 80km of roads, and, like other places in Ontario, have little cash to do so. Two are expected to be built soon, and two others are expected have been rebuilt.
Council met as committee of the whole on Monday and accepted the closure recommendation from Director of Public Works Ken Elder. The bridge is located between Side Roads 10 and 12, on the 8th Line in old Pilkington township. It is on the boundary line road with Woolwich Township.
Elder said Triton Engineering made the recommendation the bridge should be closed because of “severe structural damage due to the bridge’s overall age, effect the concrete support abutments and bridge deck.”
The township has a set procedure for closing bridges, and the township invited officials from the county, the OPP, Royal City Ambulance, Township of Centre Wellington Fire Departments, the Wellington Dufferin student transportation consortium, the post office at Ariss, Wellington County and Township of Woolwich officials to a meeting to discuss closing the bridge.
Elder said as per the policy, the township contacted all those who might be affected, but only Triton and Woolwich officials attended.
He did note the bridge is on a low traffic road, and most of the traffic in summer is farm vehicles.
He said he had talked to one farmer and learned that there are exits from farm properties behind the farms that they can use once the bridge is closed.
“Most traffic used the 86,” Elder said of the Guelph-Elmira Highway. “It’s not heavily travelled,” he added of the 8th Line in that area.
Elder did say the closure could affect Mennonites, who travel by horse and buggy.
Councillor Kirk McElwain said that it is a long way for Mennonites to go around the bridge road, and wondered if the township could close the bridge but allow horse and buggies to continue using it.
Elder said that could be done, but, “We’d have to build a tunnel, or a barrier – and hope that no traffic goes through.”
Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj said the township should contact the Ministry of Transportation about the closure, and noted that MTO Minister Donna Canfield had asked to be told about bridge closures. Ross-Zuj recommended that the township inform her, too.
Council accepted a closure date of April 15.
Engineering services coordinator Adam Dickieson noted that there will have to be turnaround areas built for snowplows, and that might include enlarging some driveways.
Council agreed unanimously to close the bridge.
