‘Profoundly concerned and deeply invested’: Gananoque looks to re-open swing bridge as soon as possible

As Gananoque’s Swing Bridge continues to be out of service, town council is hoping to find a safe and efficient solution to the issue.

At their meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 3 Gananoque council continued the discussion about the Swing Bridge on Water Street, which has remained closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic since last month, following an investigation when a storm sewer overflowed during an intense rainfall.

At their meeting, council heard from Manager of Public Works David Armstrong, who provided an update on how they plan to move forward with a solution as quickly as possible.

According to Amstrong, the roadbed and supporting concrete walls on the east side of the bridge can no longer safely support traffic, and will remain closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic until further notice.  The particular road bed in question, which is approximately 25 feet high, was built about 120 years ago and was originally a rail bed. 

Brockvilleist spoke directly with Mayor John Beddows, who clarified, “The bridge itself is completely serviceable. There is nothing wrong with the bridge. It’s the roadbed on the side of the bridge.”

Now that the issue has been identified, the conversation has shifted toward finding a solution. Council has been presented with a temporary fix that could be potentially implemented in late October, but they’re hoping for something to be put in place before then.

Beddows told Brockvilleist, “The challenge with spending the $150,000 on the temporary fix, which would be driving pilings, is that a big chunk of that money would essentially be written off because some of that work would be undone when we put the permanent fix in.”

While the temporary fix resolution is not ideal, Beddows expressed “People do need to use that bridge and from our perspective, it’s an emergency services order as well.” 

King Street, coming off of Highway 2, serves as the Highway 401 emergency detour.

“For example, if there were to be an accident on the  401 a part of it was closed, that traffic is going to be redirected down through King Street, across the King Street Bridge, which would leave us only one local crossing,” Beddows noted.

Another pressing concern for council to find a solution as quickly as possible is to avoid any potential economic effects for local merchants in that area, many of whom rely on the town’s walkability to attract guests and tourists. The mayor stated that even if they cannot get a vehicular crossing established until next month, they want to at least restore a pedestrian crossing in the interim.

Beddows wants to remind his constituents that the council for the town is not taking this matter lightly.

“We are profoundly concerned and deeply invested in ensuring that whatever permanent fix we put in is a lasting repair and provides value for money in both the short term and long term.”

After hearing his report, council authorized and directed Armstrong to collaborate with consulting engineers to develop a design and estimate a cost for the permanent design.

“Council is strong of the opinion that if we can find an affordable, temporary fix that will at least enable pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and we’d like to put that in as soon as we can if we can do it affordably,” Beddows said.

Brockvilleist will continue to provide more information on this situation as it unfolds.