Simcoe County says it will bridge the gap between the old and the new when they make public designs for the new Collingwood Street bridge next spring.
Last month, Clearview Township accepted a motion to rebuild the Collingwood Street bridge, which spans the Mad River on the way south out of Creemore. The bridge is owned by Simcoe County but lies on a Clearview Road.
“We have heard the concerns of people interested in preserving the bridge and we plan to incorporate some of their concerns and preserve some of the heritage features of the bridge when rebuilding,” said Debbie Korolnek, General Manager of Engineering, Planning and Environment at Simcoe County. “The trusses of the existing bridge will be refurbished and incorporated into the new bridge so it looks similar to the current one.”
Other changes, such as expanding the bridge from one to two lanes are necessary to address safety issues, she said.
Julie Scruton, Project Engineer at Simcoe County provided The Creemore Echo with a list of safety concerns. The bridge has no sidewalk for pedestrians, it has a deficient vertical curve and it does not meet provincial standards for vertical geometry, Scruton said. “If you are driving north, you can’t see a car approaching in time to stop safely.”
A routine inspection of the bridge in 2006 found it to be “sufficiently deficient,” Korolnek said. “It’s one hundred years old and it’s a safety concern. Like a car, you can only fix it so many times before you have to redo.”
But Barry Burton, who heads a community group that wants to save the bridge in its original form, thinks this is a load of hooey. “It’s a single-lane bridge on a dead-end road. It’s the bridge to nowhere. It doesn’t service any more than 30 homes.”
Because the bridge stands on a Clearview road, Clearview Township could stop the rebuild by declaring it to be a heritage structure. However, on Monday, October 21, Council voted against such a decision.
Currently, there are no heritage-designated bridges in Simcoe County and Clearview Township.
Simcoe County estimates it will cost $2.28 million to rebuild the bridge. Burton argued that it will cost $1 million less to maintain the existing bridge than it will to build a new one.
Clearview Mayor Ken Ferguson doesn’t see it that way. “It’s a difference of opinion, but I think they’re under as much as we’re over,” he said.
“If it was a heritage bridge, then it would be paid for 100% by taxpayers’ money. I thought this was a great compromise,” Ferguson said, of rebuilding the bridge while preserving some of its features. “We listened, engaged, put lots of time into it, and now it’s crunch time.”
“I understand they want to preserve part of the history of Canada and that’s why we’ve gone to this extreme,” said Korolnek. “We think we have done as much as we can to try to within the approved conditions. For us it’s not a question of saving the bridge or not saving the bridge. For us it’s how to make it safe and preserve the character for the neighbourhood.”
Construction on the new bridge is planned for 2015. In the meantime, Burton said his group hasn’t given up; its members are still hoping to change Council’s mind.