Agreement reached on Grandes-fourches Bridge
An agreement has been reached between the City of Sherbrooke and the provincial government with regard to the rebuilding of the Grandes Fourches Bridge, reports Sherbrooke’s French-language daily, La Tribune. That announcement was made by Minister of the Family, Luc Fortin, Tuesday as a sidebar to a national announcement.
"At the beginning of the year, I asked for intensified and accelerated discussions between the City and the Department of Transport to agree on cost sharing,” Fortin is quoted as saying. “I can say that there is an agreement and that we will make the announcement during the first week of March by the Mayor of Sherbrooke (Steve Lussier) and myself. This is good news for the revitalization of downtown Sherbrooke.”
Plans call for the bridge to be moved further west, almost to Wellington St. North. The City and the Department of Transport had to agree on cost-sharing for the new bridge. It was generally agreed that there was a need to replace the bridge and it was supposed to be replaced in 2013, said Fortin, pointing out that in the meantime, the City developed another project.
Fortin chose not to elaborate on the chosen scenario and said that the announcement in March will focus primarily on the financial contribution of the provincial government and that the City will remain the principal contractor for the project. A completion date for the project is not yet known.
With an agreement in hand, the City will now have to focus on the presence of an endangered species in the Magog River, the Channel Darter – a type of perch, a species that may require special protective measures at the time of construction.