Vehicles cross Finlay Bridge October 19, 2020 (photo courtesy Bob Schneider)  

By Chantal Wagner

city construction

Finlay Bridge open, work on Kipling & Spencer Street SE continues

Oct 19, 2020 | 4:43 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – After months of construction, Finlay Bridge is now open to motorists.

The 112-year-old bridge officially reopened Friday night at 7 PM.

Project Engineer Chris Coslovich says despite not meeting the September 30 deadline, the upgrades went pretty smoothly.

“When they removed the asphalt because it’s a wooden deck, they found that some of the boards shrunk overtime creating gaps, and we needed to get those sealed up so the concrete wouldn’t leak through.”

And the new concrete deck is expected to last 35 years.

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“The main thing motorists will notice is the new wearing surface. The original wearing surface was asphalt but it was severely cracked, causing a pretty rough ride when you drove over the bridge. We’ve replaced that with a new more robust concrete surface which is a lot smoother. The only bumps you’ll notice are at the expansion joints, but other than that it’s a very smooth surface,” Coslovich said.

Meantime, the rehabilitation project on Kipling Street and Spencer Street SE is still in the works.

The multi-year project is to upgrade water and sewer mains in the area.

Project superintendent with environment & utilities Andy Motz says the project is going well and a considerable amount of work has been done while they have allowed continued access for businesses and residents.

He says the intent is to have the corridor open from College Avenue to Kingsway Avenue sometime by mid-November.

That’s weather dependant, he said, “The intent this year is to open that road so there will be through traffic on that road again by the end of the construction season.”

The priority work and majority of the underground work and surface work will be completed in 2020.

Motz says there may be some final top-lift paving in 2021 and minor installations.

“If you’re coming from Kingsway Avenue and Dunmore Road, the corridor is accessible from that entrance now off of Kingsway Avenue or Dunmore Road hill. So phases one, two, and three are complete and open to the general public for local traffic only through that corridor so people needing access to Canada Post or the Recovery Centre, fleet building, or city transit building do have access through that. So phases one, two, and three are complete,” Motz said.

Motz says phases four, five, and six are ongoing, with surface work in front of the city gas building along Kipling Street at the bottom of College Avenue hill with curb and gutter work and road-based preparations.

Storm installations are also ongoing in front of Canada Post.

“A portion of that might be completed and pushed to next year just due to the timing and weather that’s upon us.”

Crews are going to get as much work done in 2020 as they can, he appreciates everyone’s patience with the detour.