Province Hopes To Fully Reopen Nipigon River Bridge End Of February

It will likely be late February when both lanes of the Nipigon River Bridge will reopen. An update was provided Tuesday morning on the status of the bridge and exactly what went wrong. Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca says the cause is still not known and they are looking at several possibilities. Two research facilities will complete their independent visual inspection of the bolts this week and once that’s done complete testing will occur. Del Duca says the design of the bridge met all required standards, able to withstand winds in excess of 100-kilometres an hour and temperatures well below minus 40-degrees Celsius. He also confirmed there were no issues with the tension of the bridge cables and they met all government standards. Del Duca also confirmed the design, cables, bearing and bolts were all sourced and produced in North America. He says they are also looking at several repair options to connect the bridge deck to the foundation. The Ministry of Transportation is warning motorists of periodic and brief closures of the Nipigon River Bridge over the next couple of weeks. The MTO says the closures will be during off-peak hours. To hear the complete update from Steven Del Duca and Minister of Northern Development and Mines, click on the link below.