Cottonwood Island Pedestrian Bridge Replacement In The Works

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 03:59 AM

Prince George, B.C. – The deadline for bids to build a new pedestrian bridge for Cottonwood Island Park is today. The old bridge was destroyed during the ice-jam of 2007/2008.

The plan calls for a replica of the Cameron Street Bridge to be built, although it will be smaller and will be engineered to standards for pedestrians, not vehicles.

Initially it had been hoped a saved section of the real Cameron Street bridge could be used, but there were environmental concerns about the creosote in the old timbers leaching into the river and the soil.

The tender documents also originally called for some cast iron materials from the original bridge to be used, but that idea has since been scrapped. “We found it would cost too much to clean the cast iron pieces, have them powder-coated and tested for strength” says Kurt Brinkmann, an Engineering Assistant with the City of Prince George’s Parks department. “Instead, some washers from the old bridge will be used, but only for decorative purposes.”

The City says the permits needed from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Navigable Waters Act are near ready . All work on the bridge is to be complete by the end of October this year.

The City has secured $550 thousand dollars for the replacement of pedestrian bridges in Cottonwood Island park. $498 thousand has been approved under the Provincial Emergency Program, while a further $53 thousand was from a third party donation.

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Posted on Wednesday, August 11, 2010 03:59 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: BCRacer on August 11 2010 8:55 AM

Only three years to fix or replace a couple of small bridges...
wow, I am impress on how speedy this is...
So Prince George......

Posted by: gus on August 11 2010 10:01 AM

I agree with you 100% ... totally unacceptable.

In addition to it being a facility for the citizens of Prince George, it is a tourist attraction.

I went to ToruismPG last year to see what their literature said about the fact that the trail has been "disconnected". Nothing!!!! they said that if people ask more details they will tell them.

I am looking at the summer 2010 edition of the PG visitor's guide "Prince George, Yours to Explore" Under "pick a park" on pages 15 and 16 there is not a word about the flood and the closing of a section of the park. I have not been down the trail towards Cameron Street Bridge since early last year, but it was blocked at the time without any signs whatsoever. And, at that time, all the interpretive signs were removed and empty.

I hope we have someone in TourismPG coming in to take notice of those kinds of things and be strong enough to insist that the City has to live up to its responsibilities.

Posted by: Loki on August 11 2010 10:27 AM

I was sure that Cottonwood island is advertised as being accessible to those with mobility issues. That is the main reason the bridges were installed in the first place.

Hopefully the responsible parties get on it quicker than government pace.

Posted by: Eagleone on August 11 2010 9:22 PM

This is long long over due and someone clearly dropped the ball with the whole issue around restoring this park. The city hall doesn't have its priorities straight and the city council is oblivious to the situation.

Posted by: NMG on August 11 2010 9:40 PM

I run down there a fair amount and the main trail to the Cameron Street bridge is still decent. A little bumpy in spots, but certainly useable. The rest of the park is indeed a disgrace. The trails need to be re-opened and the bridges put back in. Glad to see they are getting on it, but man alive, it's take way too long.

As an aside, here is a pretty tangible example of what you can do with half a million dollars, similar money to what is being put back into the IPG building if I'm not mistaken. Let's see, we can spend that money on something that tens of thousands of people can enjoy for decades or dump it into a building that virtually nobody in PG goes to. Hmmm . . . .