Work on Finlay Bridge will take a few weeks longer than the city had hoped. (Photo Courtesy of Colton McKee)

By Chris Brown

More time needed

Finlay Bridge revamp won’t be done this month

Sep 22, 2020 | 5:12 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Finlay Bridge has been closed to vehicle traffic since summer and will stay closed a little bit longer than the city had hoped.

Chris Coslovich, project engineer, with the City of Medicine Hat’s municipal Works department, says that overall the project has gone well but the original finish date of Sept. 30 will not be met.

“Once we removed the asphalt from the deck we discovered that the existing wood timbers had shrunk quite a bit creating voids between the timbers. So we had to get those sealed up to prevent the concrete from spilling through when we poured the deck,” Coslovich explains. “We also discovered that there was some existing metal flashing on top of the wood that had to be removed so that it would provide a good bond between the concrete and the wood surface. And when we removed the north back wall we discovered that the bearings weren’t in as good a condition as what we were anticipating.”

“The bridge is 112-years-old and the stuff under the asphalt, we couldn’t determine that until we actually removed the asphalt. The record drawings for it aren’t that great again because they’re 112-years-old so they were unknowns at the time.”

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The bridge is now expected to be open in mid to late October.

Coslovich says the main objective of the project was to replace the existing asphalt wearing surface with a concrete wearing surface.

“The problem with the asphalt is again because the subdeck is made up of six-inch-wide wood timbers that at each joint of the timbers the asphalt was cracking just due to the flex of the timbers on the asphalt,” he said. “So it provided a very uneven, rough ride on the deck. So the main point is to replace the asphalt with a more robust, stronger concrete deck that will resist that cracking and provide a smoother riding surface.”

He adds they decided to take advantage of the shut down needed to do the asphalt to replace the back walls and do inspections of the bearings.

Coslovich acknowledges motorists have been inconvenienced for the past couple of months.

“We know that this is a fairly high-use bridge so we appreciate everybody’s patience and we hope to get it open as soon as possible.”