City Planning Major Work for 2nd Ave Overpass

Major work is being planned for the 2nd Avenue Overpass in Swift Current that could see the bridge closed to traffic for much of next year.

At Monday's meeting, City Council awarded a contract to AECOM for detailed design and construction services for the replacement of the expansion joints and the bridge deck on the overpass.

"This work was identified by an assessment that was done on the bridge in 2010, and recommended that this work be looked at," said Mitch Minken, General Manager of Infrastructure and Operations for the City of Swift Current. "The last time work's been done on the bridge was 1991, and the life expectancy of the expansion joints are about 15 years, so it's time to have a look and see.

"AECOM will do a detailed assessment now of what all needs to be done, but it sounds like the asphalt needs to be removed, and the concrete deck and the expansion joints all need to be replaced," he added. "I believe at this point in preliminary, they're talking about eight to ten months."

Minken adds they are looking to start the work in spring of 2015, and the detailed assessment will also determine if the bridge can still be used during the construction work.

"That's one of the questions that the detailed design will address, is whether or not the bridge can stay in service with a possibility of one lane being in service while the other lane's being worked on, or whether it needs to come out of service for the whole duration of the project," he said. "It's a long project, so we'll need to get started as soon as conditions get favourable."

The 2nd Avenue Overpass, which has been in service for 54 years, is the only bridge crossing the railway tracks in Swift Current. Three level crossings are located at Lac Pelletier Trail, 11th Ave NE near Riverside Park, and Memorial Drive (Highway 4).

There had been calls over many years to build an overpass on the highway over the tracks, but Minken says for now, maintaining the current overpass is more cost-effective.

"Preliminary estimates have pegged the cost of this at the $4 million mark, when the detailed design is done, that will become a little bit clearer, but we have a budget number in our long-term budget plans for a second overpass, which we have pegged at $15 million, so this is certainly a much more cost-effective way of dealing with it," Minken said. "That second bridge is always there in our long-term plans, so we're always looking for assistance in the way of joint grants or anything that might come along to assist us with looking at building that, just like other cities have gotten."

Earlier this year, traffic was restricted on the overpass for several weeks as crews worked on the base of the bridge after an overheight load damaged the beams.