What is SOTB’s Position?
“SOTB believes the bridge is part of our railway history and it provides an excellent connection to Mill Street and the waterfront. If we can spend less than the $2.25 million the town has budgeted to destroy it, while providing a fully refurbished walking bridge with maintenance costs covered for 60 years, then that is a huge win for all.”
Train bridges of this style are designed to last hundreds of years with minor maintenance. And that’s for trains, not lightweight pedestrians. There are many examples of this sort of train bridge being transitioned into sections of a walking trail. In Chaffey’s Lock, on the Rideau, the Cataraqui Trail uses an identical one. As an asset, it was described as a ‘500-year bridge’.
Chaffey’s Lock Bridge. Same as Gananoque’s and good for centuries.
Why Such a Huge Cost if it were Demolished?
The worry is environmental contamination of the River directly below the bridge. The creosote ties used on the bridge are no more of a problem than the millions used on railways across Canada … as long as they are left where they are now. They are in excellent condition and will likely last another 100 years. They do not leach pollutants into the water. However, removing them means they have to be transported to Sarnia where they can be burned and the residue scrubbed. That is a very expensive project.
The Gananoque River is an environmentally sensitive fish spawning ground as this Natural and Cultural Heritage map shows in red. It’s important to keep pollutants out of the River, so let’s just fix the bridge, save tax dollars and get on with spending tax dollars responsibly.
Spawning grounds in RED for Gananoque River.
Surely the Town uses Professional Engineers?
They do, but not all engineering firms cover all the bases. Engineers’ professional work can cover everything from footings for a shed to designing a skyscraper to railroad design, which leads to firms specializing. The Town uses a handful of engineers to quote projects and write tenders, but Town Council does not appear to have ever asked for a rehabilitation study to transition from a train bridge to a pedestrian bridge; they just asked “what would it cost to demolish it?” Nor have they ever engaged with specialized railroad engineers until SOTB came along with Michael Roney and his team. There is a HUGE difference in repairing a bridge meant to carry 200-ton trains and repairing and transitioning a bridge to carry nothing but pedestrians.