Thunder Bay Ontario - A 111-year-old Thunder Bay bridge needs some work.
 
The historic McKellar River Lift Bridge on Island Drive links Mission Island and McKellar Island.
 
It was designed by the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company of Chicago, and was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1911.
 
Historicbridges.org describes it as very rare.
 
It's on the Ontario Heritage Bridge list and the City of Thunder Bay Heritage Register.
 
The bascule bridge has railway tracks as well as a deck for automobiles, but one traffic lane has been closed for some time.
 
The city is responsible for the deck, which is the portion that needs to be strengthened.
 
It's currently looking for an engineering firm to design and supervise the project.
 
Project engineer Mike Vogrig says "We had some issues a few years back with the deck, so we had to have it shut down for a couple of months while we strengthened the deck, and we're stuck with a one-way situation there now."
 
Vogrig said the city is looking to rehabilitate the deck to restore it to two lanes of traffic.
 
He said it's been years since the bridge has had to be lifted to allow boats to pass.
 
However, before work can proceed the city needs to find out from Transport Canada if the McKellar River in that location is still considered navigable, and if the ability to lift the bridge must be maintained.
 
Discussions with CP are also required.
 
It's possible that the previous widening of the bridge deck, and the new work that's pending, will require the mechanisms for lifting the bridge to be altered or rebalanced.
 
Because of the need for negotiations with the railway and federal authorities, the project likely won't be finished until sometime in 2024.
 
"Transport Canada might still want it to be liftable in emergencies," Vogrig said.
 
Gary Rinne.