The Region of Durham announced it is progressing with temporary and permanent replacements of the Beaver River Bridge, located on Regional Road 15 west of Highway 12, in the Township of Brock.
“The old bridge will be replaced with a new structure and it is scheduled to commence construction in 2026 and be completed in 2027. In the interim, a temporary bridge will open to traffic in mid-November of 2024,” said the statement.
In a social media post, Mike Jubb, Brock Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor, said: “Everything is on schedule to open the temporary bridge, as planned, next Friday. Asphalt work will be occurring this Monday. Line painting on Tuesday and guardrail installations on Wednesday and Thursday. In addition, detour signs are planned to be removed at the end of next week by the MTO.
“This is perfect timing for the Beaverton Lion’s parade. If anything changes I will update everybody immediately, as per normal. I can’t stress enough the gratitude I have towards our regional staff for making this happen so quickly, after we took over this from the province. They have done an absolutely spectacular job” he added.
The region’s contractor, Elirpa Construction and Materials Ltd., mobilized to the site on July 8th. The old bridge has been removed and the temporary bridge supplied by Algonquin Bridge has been installed. Construction of the approach roadworks are on-going.
The region said the temporary bridge will have adequate capacity to support full traffic loads with no posted weight restriction. The bridge will be subject to vehicle weight and dimension limits as prescribed in the Highway Traffic Act, and its various regulations which are administered by the Ministry of Transportation, Ontario (MTO), similar to other roads in the province. The Region of Durham’s Oversize/Overweight Load Permit requirements will apply for commercial vehicles carrying a load larger or heavier than the maximum limits established in the Highway Traffic Act.
Permanent Bridge
The temporary bridge has been placed with the plan to construct the north portion of the permanent bridge while traffic remains on the temporary bridge. Traffic would then be moved to the permanent bridge and the temporary bridge removed, allowing for the remainder of the permanent bridge to be constructed. As a result, subject to design feasibility and agency approvals, the expectation is that the duration of any future project road closures would be limited to short durations (days) at a time to complete certain construction items and traffic staging changes.
Given the lane shifts required until the permanent bridge is completed, a localized 40 kmh posted speed limit will be in place through the bridge site and to the east of the Highway 12 intersection. The speed limit will return to the current 60 kmh once the project has been completed in 2027.
Funding for this project is being provided by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.