Duane Hicks
FORT FRANCES—Continuing with the third year of a five-year rehabilitation plan for the Noden Causeway, the Ministry of Transportation is planning to resume work in early June.
In an e-mail this week, MTO regional director Larry Lambert reported this third phase of work will include rehabilitating the west low-level bridge with pre-cast concrete deck slabs.
Installation will take place over four stages during the 2010 construction season, with single-lane traffic being controlled by temporary traffic signals on both approaches.
Additionally, a contract to repair more than 800 piles supporting the high-level bridge is expected to commence later this year and then continue next spring, with completion scheduled for the fall of the year.
Since this work involves repairs to the pile foundations, very little impact to traffic is expected on the high level bridge.
After that work has been completed, the rehabilitation of the 614-metre long high-level bridge deck is planned to follow.
Work last year on the causeway included repairs to address corrosion below the waterline on a portion of the steel piles that support the three structures.
The year before, the work included new concrete deck panels on the 138-metre east low-level portion, complete with new expansion joints and a metal railing system.
The provincial government committed in 2008 to reconstruct the entire Noden Causeway over five years.
Work on the causeway first began in 1958, and it was opened in 1965.
It was rehabilitated in the 1980s with new barrier walls and joints. But in recent years, the causeway has demonstrated drainage problems, as well as poor pavement and joint conditions.
In related news, the Ministry of Transportation will continue to fix up Highway 11—from 16 km east of the Highway 502 junction easterly for 21 km.
Work there is expected to begin by the middle of this month and be completed by the fall.
Area residents and motorists should know that slower driving speeds and occasional delays throughout the construction period will be necessary to protect the safety of construction and inspection staff, as well as the travelling public.
The construction work is being done by Aecon Construction and Materials, with administration service being provided by TBT Engineering Ltd.
