Parkhill Road bridge reopening postponed

Residents have been left feeling the road closures are an ‘injustice’

The opening of the Trent-Severn Waterway’s Warsaw Road Swing Bridge on Parkhill Road East to vehicular and pedestrian traffic has once again been delayed, this time until Aug. 7, and possibly longer depending on testing results and potential adjustments to the bridge.

All mechanical, hydraulic and electrical components are onsite, but issues related to the installation of the components have delayed the bridge testing and commissioning work to next week, Parks Canada which in charge of the project, announced Wednesday.

“If the testing and commissioning goes well, the bridge is expected to reopen on Aug. 7. If additional adjustments or modifications are required as a result of the testing, the bridge opening will be delayed until they are completed,” a Parks Canada press release states.

Immediately following the reopening of the bridge, short intermittent delays are expected for operational testing. Traffic control measures will be in place, it said.

The bridge has been closed since October for a full replacement of the steel swing bridge structure, repairs to concrete abutments, and replacement of mechanical and electrical operating systems. As well, the project has brought the bridge up to full highway loading.

The completion date was originally set for the end of May and then changed to July.

The work has closed Parkhill Road East to through traffic between Television Road and Ashburnham Drive.

City staff also decided to close three East City residential streets — MacFarlane Avenue, Old Norwood Road and Maniece Avenue — and detour traffic to bridges on Lansdowne Street, Maria Street and Nassau Mills Road. Only local traffic is permitted on the three residential streets.

City officials say the detours are necessary to keep high volumes of traffic off those residential streets, since they are

not designed to handle the volume of traffic normally experienced on Parkhill Road East. Putting that vehicle amount of traffic on them would create safety concerns, according to the city

East City resident Andrew MacGregor told The Examiner in early July that area residents have been left feeling the road closures are an “injustice.”

“We have no representation at council,” he said. “From where I sit, it looks like our ward exists only for the approval of expensive development projects, with no thought given to the infrastructure those projects need nor the neighbours who will bear the burden of living next to them.”

Brendan Burke is a staff reporter at the Examiner, based in Peterborough. His reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.