Bridge to see changes to traffic lanes

Effective this Monday (Nov. 10) at 9 a.m., there will be changes to the traffic flow on the international bridge so vehicles and pedestrians can better align them with the inspection lanes.
“We need to keep trucks off the cantilever portion of the bridge. That’s the long and the short of it,” said John Harrison, general manager of the Abitibi-Consolidated paper mill here, which decided to make the changes along with Boise Cascade, the Minnesota Dakota & Western Railway Company, and the International Bridge & Terminal Company.
The changes will be as follows:
•the present southbound land (grated bridge) will be permanently closed to vehicular traffic;
•a new pedestrian walkway will be opened on the west side of the grated bridge (the walkway on the concrete portion of the bridge will be permanently eliminated);
•northbound vehicles will use the east lane of the concrete bridge as they presently do;
•southbound passenger vehicles will use the west lane of the concrete bridge (this will create two-way traffic on the concrete bridge); and
•southbound trucks will continue to use the railroad portion of the bridge, as will northbound and southbound trains.
Harrison noted the new pedestrian walkway provides ample room to move.
Signage indicating the change in traffic flow will be erected by 9 a.m. on Monday.
While Harrison did not say whether the need to prevent trucks from using that portion of the bridge was spurred on by any specific incidents, at least one accident has occurred there in the past few years.
In December, 2000, the cantilever section of the bridge, which is attached to the side of the main bridge and not supported by columns, was bent when a loaded pulpwood truck entered the wrong lane.
The lane was designated for smaller vehicles weighing seven tons or less but the loaded truck—weighing more than 35 tons—ignored two signs indicating the lane was for lighter vehicles and forced the steel grating to sink about a foot.
(Fort Frances Times)