Contract Awarded for New Cottonwood Island Pedestrian Bridge

Thursday, September 02, 2010 03:59 AM

Prince George, B.C.- Prep work is expected to start within the week on a new pedestrian bridge for Cottonwood Island park.

The City of Prince George has awarded the contract for the bridge construction to Nahanni Construction of Prince George for the total tendered amount of $424,249.28.

All necessary permits ( Ministry of the Environment, Department of Fisheries and Oceans) to allow construction of the bridge to proceed.

The pedestrian bridge will replace the one destroyed in the ice jams of the winter of 2007/2008. It will be a replica of the Cameron Street Bridge and while it was initially hoped a section of the Cameron Street Bridge could be used for this crossing, the old bridge timbers contain creosote which could leach into the soil.

Then the plan was to use some of the old cast iron from the Cameron Street Bridge, but it was too costly to have those pieces cleaned, powder coated and tested for today’s engineering standards. In the end, the only pieces which will be recycled, are some washers which will add visual interest to the new bridge and will not form any structural function.

The new pedestrian bridge is expected to be complete by the end of October.

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Posted on Thursday, September 02, 2010 03:59 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: gus on September 2 2010 5:57 AM

That's a fortune. Should have just put in a culvert with a flow over design for high water situations.

Posted by: bobbys on September 2 2010 8:07 AM

Can't wait to beable to walk the whole park again!!! Such a nice area.

Posted by: Honestjoe on September 2 2010 8:40 AM

424+ thousand dollars for a pedestrian bridge? Is it any wonder that our property taxes continue to escalate every year.
Creosote? What do you think the hundreds of miles of railroad ties are treated with? Nobody seems to worry about the soil for that use.
We need to elect a financially responsible council in November of 2011. This council is spending like a bunch of drunken sailors! None deserve to be elected again.

Posted by: gus on September 2 2010 9:05 AM

Should'a installed a zip line a long time ago. Could'a called it a tourist feature and charged a loonie a crossing.

Or gone with a Capilano style suspension bridge. Could'a had a bit'o excitement crossing.

Posted by: Howrd_B_Stern on September 2 2010 9:14 AM

Gus I would pay that buck to ride a zipline.

Posted by: RIP commonsense on September 2 2010 9:26 AM

I have commented on this before.
Two and a half years to get something done.
Engineering reports, approvals, studies, assessments, we should all become consultants.
The Cameron bridge is dead and gone.
All we wanted was a way to get to the island and enjoy ALL of the park.
We should have asked CN for the donation of three flat cars which they could have logo'd.
Put some railings on, and voila, a bridge x three at a fraction of the cost.
Instead we had a 2.5 year wait and another half million dollar bureaucratic boondoggle.
Does anyone have a creative or commonsense mind anymore?

Posted by: interceptor on September 2 2010 10:18 AM

Wouldnt work commonsense. The snowmobile club wanted to put in an old flat car and it had to be engineered... I guess they didnt believe it would support a snowmobile. As it turns out the cross country ski club had already paid the engineering fees. Apparantly the government wasnt quite sure that a CN flatbed rail car could support a person on skis either. In the end it was a pretty cheap payday for the engineers...

Posted by: gus on September 2 2010 11:17 AM

RIP and Interceptor.....

They had the flatbed railcar in place for years. In fact, a few weeks ago it was still lying there on the southern bank, probably perfectly usable.

I agree with you 100% RIP .....

Remember people, not only are snowmobiles and skiiers and little kids crossing it, but also city works vehicles to pick up garbage, buck fallen trees, cut down danger trees, etc.

God only knows what emergency vehicles they want to be able to cross it as well.

Then comes the big one, high water and ICE with potential side thrusts if the water get high enough.

Posted by: gus on September 2 2010 11:20 AM

They could get the specs from the railway or car manufacturer of the load capacity the car has. But remember it is a static, not a moving load and the load is on the span between the axles when the bridge is likely not provided with supports at the same locations where the axles were.

Thus, off to the engineers we go.

Posted by: gus on September 2 2010 11:29 AM

"washers which will add visual interest to the new bridge and will not form any structural function"

This is a joke, isn't it?

Visual interest? This is a nature park. Visual interest should be added with flaura and fauna, not washers unless they are kneeling by the river and washing their clothes the way people once did.

Posted by: gus on September 2 2010 11:30 AM

flaura???? well maybe flora ... LOL

Posted by: RIP commonsense on September 2 2010 11:49 AM

Gus
They now have a platform for a bridge at the bottom of Cottonwood and are dismantling the old railings and deck on the flatcar.
I hope they are going to use it.
You know we need a tea party type movement up here for all local, provincial and federal politics.

Posted by: PrinceGeorge on September 2 2010 12:11 PM

"...are some washers which will add visual interest to the new bridge and will not form any structural function."

Look at all the money that was saved from not having those washers cleaned, powder coated and tested for today’s engineering standards.

That is how they kept the total cost below one half million bucks, I bet.

What a relief.

Posted by: seamutt on September 2 2010 1:55 PM

Amazing just amazing. Will this not be times 2 or only access the island from one end. To you loggers out there how much for setting up a logging road bridge like those pre made ones? I guess it would not be pretty enough but hey it would reflex our logging history. Maybe a few companies could chip in with time and equipment for building one of those bridges and put their company names on a plaque instead of some politician.

I was just on the island and the garbage bins do not seem to have been emptied since the flood, amazing, not hard at all to access from the parking lot beside the railway museum.

Posted by: Harbinger on September 2 2010 4:51 PM

"spending like drunken sailors"... I will have you know that "drunken sailors" spend their own money.

Posted by: supertech on September 2 2010 10:51 PM

That is an obscene amout of money for the end result. Nahanni Construction of Prince George also was awarded the trail repair in 2005 for 170 G's.

Can't find out anything about them.
Nahanni Construction
18960 Highway 16 W, Prince George V2N 6K8, BC

p: 2509613596
Website - None Supplied

Email - None Supplied

Posted by: gus on September 3 2010 1:49 AM

Try this for some info on the local Nahanni as opposed to the one in Yellowknife.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3764/is_200501/ai_n12934369