Construction of the much-anticipated Bailey bridge is a step closer to completion.
One of two new crossings has been completed, but construction of the second bridge was delayed because of complications related to the piles supporting the structure.
“The piles are completed,” project manager Keith Whiteley told The Record Dec. 23. “We finished that this morning.”
Pedestrians and cyclists have been able to travel over the bridge that’s already in place, but it’s off limits to vehicles until the second crossing is complete.
“We are looking at the first week of January to have the bridge contractor in there installing the bridge,” Whiteley said.
As soon as the bridge is complete in January, the City of New Westminster needs to do some road adjustments to accommodate the two lanes that will now connect New Westminster and Coquitlam through the Braid industrial area.
New Westminster and Coquitlam sparred over the fate of the Bailey bridge for much of 2014. The one-lane crossing was closed to vehicle traffic in March 2014 when an engineering inspection deemed it to be structurally unsound.
While New Westminster embarked on plans to have a new single-lane structure installed, Coquitlam and the province’s transportation minister pressed for two lanes. An arbitrator sided with Coquitlam and agreed the area would be best served by a two-lane crossing.
