Canso Causeway retrofit on schedule
Your last look at Cape Breton or that welcoming view as you return home is in the middle of its $9-million retrofit.
Allsteel Coatings Ltd. began the retrofit of the swing bridge and other aspects of Canso Causeway improvements in January and the work remains on schedule to be concluded by next fall.
Besides the swing bridge over the canal, work will also include structural repairs and a new control building — the three-storey structure that can be seen at the construction site on the west side of the canal.
“The operator will no longer be on the bridge,” said Andrew MacPherson, a project engineer with the Department of Transportation.
“He’ll be in a separate building off the bridge to allow for more clearance for vehicles travelling the causeway.”
In July 2014, the federal government transferred the administration and control of the Canso Causeway to the province. The transfer included federal funding of $9 million toward work on the swing bridge and the causeway.
The swing bridge is 60 years old and requires upgrades to ensure it continues to provide service to all transportation types including vehicular, marine and rail.
While the next few weeks of the project will see the completion of that control building, the largest aspect of the project’s current phase means preparing a detour to allow for bridge upgrades over the winter months.
“It is pretty well on schedule,” MacPherson said.
“This canal closure with the detour is the major critical path. That’s our major point — to get it in as soon as possible. It has to be out before the canal reopens to marine traffic.”
The canal is scheduled to close on Nov. 1 and reopen in midMay.
During the closure, a panel bridge will be put in place over the canal on the northside of the existing bridge to allow motorists to continue to cross the causeway.
MacPherson said speed reductions will be in place for motorists to follow.
While the detour is in place all winter, the existing bridge will be covered so that sandblasting and painting can take place during the colder months.
“After that it will be to take the detour out, regrade the site and refinish and have it looking as close to what it used to be as possible.”
Existing mechanical and electrical aspects of the bridge will also be replaced before the project concludes.
The Canso Causeway project is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2017. The project is part of the province’s capital plan for 2016-17.