Plans for Windham, Porter bridges considered

Adam Veri, Norfolk County Ward 6 Councillor.

Luke Edwards

Advocate Correspondent

Moving old Windham bridge to Marburg Road deemed too expensive

A novel approach to placing the Porter Bridge on Marburg Road has been nixed by councillors who couldn’t justify the added cost to maintain a similar historical feel.

However, Norfolk municipal politicians did approve a new pedestrian and cycling bridge for the road, a plan that should come in well under the $700,000 estimated cost of moving the Concession 3 Windham bridge.

At a meeting last fall councillors directed staff to investigate the cost of moving the Windham Bridge, which was planned for reconstruction anyway, to Marburg. The idea was that it had a similar historical feel as the Porter Bridge. 

“I will caution that it is an estimate, we did build in a buffer for that but moving a bridge to a new location is not something that you do every day and it comes with lots of complications,” said Andrew Grice, general manager of infrastructure and environmental services.

The Marburg Road bridge had been closed for several years due to safety concerns. A fallen tree last year spelled the ultimate doom for the bridge, and it was fully removed.

County staff did present the option of simply not rebuilding a bridge of any kind, permanently disconnecting the road on either side of the creek. While Marburg is a lightly populated road, councillors liked the idea of keeping that connection for pedestrians and cyclists.

“I’d like to do something here, but I don’t know if it’s for all users,” said Coun. Adam Veri.

Staff did present the option of a new bridge that was capable of handling cars.

“The investment of a pedestrian bridge is reasonable.”

As for the Concession 3 Windham Bridge, reconstruction work there is going to end up costing the municipality quite a bit more. Staff sought a budget amendment to increase the project cost by $615,000.

“The reasons for that budget amendment are multiple but it’s really primarily carried by the fact the geotechnical investigation requires us to expand the bridge and install some helical piles which is increasing the cost quite substantially,” said Grice.

Fortunately, Grice said they’ve had savings in other tenders and will be able to use those to cover the additional cost of the Windham Bridge work.

“So although we don’t like having a project over budget there are dollars available within other projects to fund this request,” he said.

Construction is expected to take place this summer. Responding to a question from Coun. Michael Columbus on how it’ll impact local farmers, Grice said some impact is unavoidable, but they’ll do their best to minimize it.

“We will work with the community as best we can to alleviate their concerns. We do understand that agricultural business is important to Norfolk County and we do not want to impact those users,” Grice said.