City report delivers new, less-expensive, proposal to replace Arlington Bridge By: Joyanne Pursaga Posted: 2:25 PM CST Monday, Nov. 25, 2024 Last Modified: 5:45 PM CST Monday, Nov. 25, 2024 Updates

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A new proposal to replace the Arlington Bridge at its current location could cost $166 million, plus up to $27 million more in interest, and require six years to build.

A long-awaited report on the bridge’s future comes about a year after it closed suddenly on Nov. 21, 2023, due to structural concerns.

The decaying bridge first opened to traffic in 1912.

While the city explored repairing it, that is no longer a viable option, Brad Neirinck, the city’s manager of engineering, writes in the report.

“It is not feasible to repair the existing truss spans of the bridge due to severe deterioration and lack of strength to support construction loading and operations… load testing showed the foundations could not support a new bridge superstructure,” Neirinck notes.

The price to replace the bridge has plummeted from a 2019 proposal, a version expected to cost $319 million. That earlier plan would have created a much wider, three-lane structure with two protected one-way bike lanes and two sidewalks. The new plan offers a narrower, two-lane bridge with two shared, multi-use active-transportation paths.

The newer proposal would also require fewer property acquisitions.

“It became a much shorter project, a narrower bridge and a much more modest project…. We would restore the traffic back to what it was pre-2023,” Neirinck told reporters Monday.

The new bridge would be able to support Winnipeg Transit buses, unlike the now-closed structure, while also improving access for cyclists and pedestrians.

It would be designed to offer a minimum 75-year service life.

Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of council’s public works committee, said the construction is needed to restore a critical transportation route.

“I think it’s really obvious that the need is there if you look at the volume of traffic and you see the uptake in other parts of the city (after the bridge closed),” said Lukes (Waverley West).

In the report, Neirinck notes all modes of traffic have faced significant delays since the Arlington Bridge closure, with some pedestrians forced to add more than a kilometre to their routes. Morning peak traffic flows now last an hour longer at the McPhillips Street underpass, with afternoon peak traffic extended two hours.

McPhillips Street and Logan Avenue now operates at 25 per cent above its capacity during afternoon rush hour, while traffic on the Slaw Rebchuk Bridge has increased by about 5,000 vehicles per day.

“It’s a critical link, so I’m very supportive of proceeding with (the bridge). We just have to see how we can fit it into the budget,” said Lukes.

Even with a smaller price tag for a downsized bridge, the cash-strapped city could struggle to cover the cost. The city has only $149 million left to borrow within its council-imposed debt strategy, the report notes.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said that fiscal reality shows why the city needs a new funding formula from the province, with some form of growth revenue.

“If we funded the Arlington Bridge by ourselves as the city, we completely eat up the rest of our debt capacity… (and) this project also competes with an array of other important infrastructure projects,” said Gillingham.

The report recommends city council approve the replacement design and refer it to next year’s budget process.

“We need to demolish the bridge in place by using explosives and dropping it span by span onto the railway tracks.”–Brad Neirinck

Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski) plans to lobby senior governments to support the new bridge.

“It’s very critical. It’s already going to be six years to (get this work) done… so we have to start now,” said Eadie.

The project’s price includes $16.9 million to demolish the existing bridge, which city engineers say must be done within the next five years to mitigate risks to the rail lines below it.

Neirinck said large parts of the bridge are also unsafe to move.

“We need to demolish the bridge in place by using explosives and dropping it span by span onto the railway tracks,” he said.

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About $27 million in interest costs would be expected if the project is funded solely through debt.

The new structure would result in Dufferin Avenue closing at Arlington Street, with the bridge ending about halfway between Dufferin and Stella avenues. If the Dufferin Avenue-and-Arlington Street intersection remained open, the city would need to acquire more properties and spend about $8 million more on the project, the report notes.

The bridge design would require modifications for Canadian Pacific Kansas City rail operations beneath the bridge, which the company would need to approve. That includes abandoning one track and the realignment/relocation of a few others.

The report says consultations over those changes are still underway and have been “generally positive.”

— With files from Malak Abas

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.