27 September 2010

This Span May be on Road to Nowhere

London Ontario - The future home of a historic London bridge is still unclear, and it could yet be headed for a scrap yard, as city officials continue planning its replacement.
 
The steel-truss Sarnia Rd. bridge, a century-old landmark that's unfit for booming northwest London's traffic demands, is certainly moving, where, though, is unknown, a report says.
 
And its ultimate destination could still be a scrap heap, says the report going to city politicians Monday.
 
"Right now, it's certainly an anomaly," John Lucas, London's manager of transportation engineering, said of the rare structure. "(It's) a one-lane bridge on a two-lane road.
 
"It's well over-capacity."
 
Though some consider the bridge a spot where life slows down for Londoners, it's also a traffic hindrance.
 
It's estimated by Lucas that 7,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day, and the northwest area's growth has outpaced the rest of London in recent years.
 
"It has had an accelerated growth rate."
 
In an update going to council's environment and transportation committee, city staff say they remain in negotiations with Canadian Pacific Railway, which owns the bridge, to split the cost of replacing it.
 
A Canadian Transportation Agency document guides such cost-sharing deals, and suggests possible city-railway percentages of 85:15, 50:50 or 15:85.
 
The city sent a proposal to CPR in July, the details of which have not been made public. CPR is reviewing the city's offer.
 
One suggestion for the span, to move it a few metres and make it a footbridge next to the vehicle bridge that will replace it, is not possible, Lucas said.
 
CPR has told the city to expect a second rail line to be added under the bridge, meaning the historic structure wouldn't be long enough to span the banks.
 
Moving the bridge to another location would cost at least $200,000, an option heritage activists have urged the city to consider.
 
Joe O'Neil of the London Advisory Committee on Heritage has suggested putting it over a stream somewhere, making it a footbridge.
 
Originally built in the late 1800s, the bridge was moved to its Sarnia Rd. location in 1909 from St. James, Manitoba.
 
Patrick Maloney.