On schedule
Closed since May, the Franklin Boulevard bridge is expected to be open by mid-December
CAMBRIDGE — A seven-month city traffic headache is about to end.
The rebuilt and improved Franklin Boulevard bridge over Highway 401, linking Hespeler to the city’s golden mile retail section to the south, is expected to open to vehicles in time for the final week or two of the pre-Christmas shopping season.
“Weather permitting, the new bridge is now expected to be open to traffic by mid-December 2018,” Kersondra Hickey of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation said in an email to The Record.
“The remaining project work is anticipated to be fully completed by the end of December 2018.”
The 60-year-old bridge — last repaired in 1991 — was torn down in May, pushing many of the 29,000 vehicles that used the crossing daily onto the nearby Hespeler Road and Townline Road overpasses over the highway.
The result often produced rush-hour gridlock on the closest two 401 overpasses.
The opening of the expanded Franklin bridge will bring relief to that congestion.
City Coun. Mike Devine, whose Hespeler ward includes the bridge, praised the ministry and the contractor, Aecon, for their work on the bridge, listed as a $9.6-million project by the province.
“The people of Cambridge, particularly of north Cambridge, will be more than happy that Franklin bridge will be reopening,” Devine said.
“And we will be pleased that there is a safe active transportation access to get from the north side of the city to the south side of the city.”
Improved safety will be an important feature of the rebuilt bridge, with a separated pedestrian/cycling trail attached to the east side of the structure. In 2001, an 83-year-old man died after being struck by a car as he was walking across the bridge. In 2009, a 20-year-old man fell off his bicycle and was hit by a car exiting the 401.
City politicians have been pestering the province to improve pedestrian safety on the narrow bridge for 18 years. In May, the ministry said the bridge was expected to be completed by early December.
The new bridge also accommodates the widening of the 401 from six to 10 lanes between Townline and Hespeler Road in 2019.