Planning for the replacement of Gilchrist Park Bridge on County Road 6 in Douro Dummer is well underway at the County of Peterborough. On Tuesday Oct. 27, the County hosted a meeting for local businesses who may be impacted by the bridge closure and replacement work being done next year to inform them of the schedule and hear how the County can help support them during this time.
Earlier this year, County Council approved a full closure and primary detour with Gilchrist Bay Road as local emergency access. The estimated cost of this project would be $3,024,000 with a schedule of 100 days.
County Council heard in May of this year that the Gilchrist Park Bridge on County Road 6 is at the end of its life cycle. It would be too costly for the county to continue doing Band-Aid repairs on the structure, so a full replacement is necessary for the bridge. To do this, a full closure of the bridge is necessary.
Approximately 75m upstream of Gilchrist Park Bridge, the Old Canal Bridge carries Gilchrist Bay Road across the river that connects Gilchrist Bay to White Lake. The Old Canal Bridge is a single lane bridge that currently carries a load posting which limits its ability to be used as a detour for emergency fire services. However, the Old Canal Bridge was scheduled for replacement in 2027. The county has moved that timeline up to this fall, meaning they will replace the Old Canal Bridge ahead of the Gilchrist Park Bridge with a new modular bridge that would have full highway loading capabilities.
This would then allow Gilchrist Bay Road to be utilized as a detour for emergency service vehicles and local traffic while all other traffic would be directed to the main detour using County Rd 40.
To allow for the Gilchrist Park Bridge to be replaced, the Old Canal Bridge must first be rehabilitated to allow for large emergency service vehicles.
That work will start this month and is expected to last about three to five weeks.
Alex Payette, Supervisor of Structural Engineering for the county told the Herald that the County did look at an option where the Gilchrest Park Bridge would go down to one lane during the rebuild. However because it is such a narrow bridge, closing one lane would not leave enough space for vehicles to cross the bridge safely. Payette said that installing a temporary bridge was also not an option as it would mean rock blasting which would not be ideal for the environment but also impossible due to the close proximity of residential dwellings.
During the businesses meeting on October 27 at Pine Vista Resort, which is located near the work site, Payette said that the most common concern of businesses owners is traffic using the Old Canal Bridge.
The County has suggested that they could have a paid patrol OPP officer on site enforcing the detours. However the concern is that people will use this route when no one is enforcing the designated detours.
The other concern local businesses owners expressed was the timeframe and phasing of the project.
Payette said that the phasing is largely to do with in-water work restrictions.
The province of Ontario restricts when certain work can be done within the waterways due to fish spawning habits. To protect the environment and ecosystems, no in-water work can be done until the fish spawning season is complete (mid-July).
On-land work can be done before this, however no timeframes have been announced yet as to when the work will begin. Payette said that he would expect work to start on County Road 6 around May or June of 2027.
Another concern was garbage and recycling service impacts from this construction project. While the county does not oversee this collection, they do work closely with the providers and are confident these services will not be impacted though times of service may be updated.
The County is planning to host a public meeting about the project in the late winter or early spring. Because many of the cottagers do not live in the area during that time, they are considering an online meeting but no concrete plans have been made at this point in time.
For more information and updates on the project, visit engage.ptbocounty.ca.
