Fountain Street bridge set to open late August
$13.9-million project has had its share of headaches
There is some good news for drivers in the Preston area of Cambridge. Should everything go as planned, the new Fountain Street Bridge in Blair will open at the end of August.
It has been almost two years since Waterloo Region closed Fountain Street between Limerick Road and Blair Road to replace the bridge and complete other upgrades to that section of Fountain Street.
“It’s really starting to look like a bridge,” said project manager John Stephenson. “It’s like building a house. The framing goes up quickly, then the plumbing and electrical, and then you get to trim work and all the finicky details that take all the time. That’s where we’re at now.”
Stephenson said the $13.9million project has had its share of headaches, including this year’s extended winter, which delayed the pouring of some concrete on the bridge.
“We were a few weeks late, but we had a really good contractor and we were able to work around it, so we are really in a good spot right now,” he said.
Throughout the work on the project the region has been able to maintain a pedestrian/cyclist crossing through the construction site. As part of the project, the region has added multi-use pedestrian/cycle lanes, which are now in operation.
“We are getting a lot of compliments about that,” Stephenson said.
“It’s really gratifying when you are out on the site and you have a cyclist ride by you and say this is awesome.”
Stephenson has also heard from drivers, who for more than 18 months have had to detour around the construction.
“Some have said the detours have forced them to look at other routes. I have even had one person in the office tell me that because the bridge is closed, it’s cut 10 minutes off his commute time using the Blair Road roundabout.”
Waterloo Region is targeting Aug. 31 for the opening of the new bridge, but Stephenson is not sure whether it will open on the Friday before the Labour Day holiday weekend or the following Tuesday to fall in with the beginning of the new school year and the launch of a new Grand River transit route.
“We’ll just have to wait and see how things go as we get closer to the day,” he said.
Stephenson is also uncertain if there will be any kind of ceremony to mark the opening on the new bridge.
“I don’t know if there will be any fireworks or anything like that, but I do know there will be a lot of people happy to see the bridge completed and open,” he said.