City says now or next year for the Bishop’s Bridge

Lennoxville’s Borough President David Price says that if the provincial Ministry of Transport doesn’t start the long-anticipated work to replace the deck of the Bishop’s Bridge soon, the city will demand that the work be put off until next summer.

“We’ve basically said to them that if you can’t get it done by (the start of the school year) you can’t do it this year, that’s all,” Price said at Tuesday night’s borough council meeting. “People will be out with signs in the street if they try to pull that in September.”

Earlier this week Sherbrooke’s Urban Infrastructure Director told local media that the city has received no word from the MTQ on when the work will begin and Price explained that the lack of information seems to be universal.

“We’re all in the dark,” the borough president said. “We don’t know at this point and nobody will answer us.”

Dominique Gosselin of the Estrie Division of the MTQ explained that since the project is still considered to be in its planning phase, there is no timeline available for when the work will begin or how long it will take.

“All options are on the table,” Gosselin told The Record, adding that the city and local media will be informed as soon as more specific information is available.

Price speculated that the delays might be as a result of the engineers’ strike that began in late May. Regardless of the reason, however, he said that there is only one window in the year to get the work done because of the importance of the bridge to the community.

“The Bridge must be open by the third week of August,” he said. “You’ve got to do it in the summer time, and that’s going to be difficult enough.”