Bridge could open ahead of schedule

By Daily Courier Staff December 28, 2007
The new W.R. Bennett bridge could open to traffic earlier than planned, transportation officials say. Even with the planned Christmas season shutdown, construction is going well enough to allow for the possibility the bridge will be finished before next summer. “We‘re pretty confident we‘ll be ahead of the July opening date,” Jon Buckle, who oversees the project for the Ministry of Transportation, said Thursday. A specific opening date will be known by March. Potentially complicating factors would include such things as severe weather, which could disrupt the construction schedule, Buckle said. Meanwhile, crews have now finished dismantling the old ferry docks on the Westside. Their removal was provided for in an agreement struck between the province and the Westbank First Nation when additional land was secured for the bridge project. Some parts of the dock dated back to the 1930s, and much of it was in poor condition. The Ministry of Environment was interested in seeing the docks removed as a way of returning the lakeshore to a more natural state. Meanwhile, the wooden decking now visible underneath the new bridge is a normal part of the construction process and will eventually be removed. “There won‘t be any wood on the bridge when it‘s all said and done,” Buckle said.