Queensway bridge replacements could start in 2018
Ministry of Transportation unveils preliminary plan for replacement and repair
By Steph Willems
Ottawa West News, Mar 05, 2015
The Ministry of Transportation has formed a plan on how to deal with some of Ottawa’s aging Queensway bridges, meaning residents will see a years-long period of repair and replacement.
A total of 23 bridges in 12 locations throughout the city core and west side are included in the MTO’s preliminary design and environmental assessment study. The spans, located between Holland Avenue and O’Connor Street, were constructed in the early-to-mid-1960s and are nearing the end of their lifespan.
Residents attending a Feb. 26 open house for the project (the second so far) learned what preferred options the MTO has for each span. In each case, extensive rehabilitation or outright replacement is planned, though that work won’t be for a few years.
“You’re going to see some minor maintenance work – some minor patch work – probably in 2016, and that’s really with the goal of getting to what we consider the major rehabilitations or the replacements, which we’re planning on 2018 and outwards,” said Don Rowat, senior project engineer with the MTO’s planning and design section.
“We obviously can’t do all the bridges in one year, for a variety of reasons. You don’t want to be closing off adjacent streets at the same time – you try and span them out between several construction seasons.”
Rowat sees the end period of construction as being 2025, with the ministry co-ordinating work with the city as much as possible.
The preferred solution for the Holland, Parkdale Avenue, Fairmont Avenue, Bayswater Avenue, Bank Street and O’Connor bridges is rapid bridge rehabilitation, while the Preston Street, Rochester Street, Booth Street, Bronson Avenue and Percy Street spans would see rapid bridge replacement.
The designs for the repaired spans show upgraded, contemporary facades for the bridge frames and sound barriers. New asphalt, waterproofing, approach slabs and substructure refacing are included in the planned repair work.
Two staging areas for the construction of the replacement spans were identified in the study – one in the surface parking lot on Beech Street between Preston and Rochester, and the other on the site of the former school board building at Bronson and Chamberlain Street.
The MTO already owns that building and plans to demolish it later this year in preparation for the staging area and a street realignment that is part of the Queensway bridge project. The realignment will see vehicles coming off the eastbound Bronson off-ramp continue east on Chamberlain, without having to turn right, then make a left at the current intersection.
Like past projects, the replacement of the bridge spans would be accomplished in a weekend, with traffic re-routing plans put into effect for each location. Lane reductions would be required for the repair work.
Before any of these bridges see serious work, the most complicated span will require replacement – that being the existing three-span crossing of the O-Train tracks and Preston-Carling multi-use pathway.
“The CPR/O-Train bridge itself, we would like to have that begin in late 2016, with major construction beginning in 2017,” said Rowat. “We still have approvals to go through to make that happen.”
Information boards at the open house showed the many options the MTO considered in coming up with a preferred plan for the O-Train bridge. The most advantageous option would be to create new backfilled abutments on either side of the tracks, with a single, shorter span that could be slid into place.
The removal of 47 Young Street would be required to facilitate the construction of the span. The remaining area underneath the new span would be able to accommodate twin O-Train tracks, as well as the existing multi-use pathway.
Peter Eady, vice-president of the Civic Hospital Neighbourhood Association, said he’d like to see a final design that preserved a narrow corridor of land on the west side of the O-Train tracks, opposite the multi-use pathway. The secondary plan for the area has a west side corridor drawn into it, he said.
“Doing it this way precludes it,” he said, adding, “I’d like to know the cost (of keeping it in the plan). Because if the difference is negligible, the community would like to see it preserved.”
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper, whose ward terminates at the O-Train tracks, said the construction of the new bridge over that corridor would likely take two construction seasons, and that he would explore whether the corridor could be kept in place on the west side of the tracks.
“We don’t want to eliminate the potential for a western MUP that could extend from Carling Avenue to Somerset Street,” said Leiper.
Comments on the study and its recommendations are being accepted by the MTO until March 13. Information on the study can be found – and comments submitted – at queenswaymidtownbridges.com.
http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-...bridge-replacements-could-start-in-2018/
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