Bastion Street Bridge in downtown Nanaimo will close for two and a half weeks for repairs starting next week.
The City of Nanaimo advised this week that the bridge will be closed from Monday, June 8 to June 26 to correct an issue with the bridge deck joints.
Vehicle traffic will be detoured, but pedestrian access will be maintained while the repair work is carried out.
The bridge underwent extensive work in 2019 for seismic retrofitting, resurfacing and installation of new direction signs and back-lighted coloured panels between the bridge piers.
Phil Stewart, city manager of engineering projects, said in an e-mail to the News Bulletin that the work required on the bridge is part of the major upgrade work conducted last summer, but once the bridge deck concrete was poured a problem with the expansion joints was discovered with the contractor had difficulty installing the joint seals.
“The problem took a long time to diagnose and a lot of engineering to develop a solution,” Stewart said. “Unfortunately the solution requires the removal of the flange ways from each joint and recasting a new one. Once the solution was determined, it was too late in the season to complete the work as the weather had to be predictably dry and warm, so the work had to be delayed until now.”
The work, which the city had hoped to have completed by the end of April, was also delayed because the contractor was committed to other contracts.
To learn more about the upcoming work, visit https://bit.ly/2MnhKEb. For more information about the work completed in 2019, visit the City of Nanaimo website at www.nanaimo.ca/goto/bastionbridge.
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