Released on January 20, 2012
Significant progress has been made in the first year of construction on the new St. Louis Bridge. However, a delay in the delivery of steel girders has pushed back the project's estimated completion time to the fall of 2013.
""The ministry recognizes the importance of this bridge to the provincial transportation system and shares the disappointment of everyone who wanted to see the new St. Louis Bridge open in 2012," Highways and Infrastructure Minister Jim Reiter said. "The ministry looked at a variety options to keep construction on track, but each one added significant cost to the project while providing no significant assurance that construction could be completed in 2012."
The reason for the delay is that the company fabricating the bridge's girders cannot obtain the steel required for the girders in time to meet the delivery deadline. There are only a handful of mills in North America that can produce steel in the dimensions and properties required. The girders are to be fabricated in sections just over three metres tall and up to 22 metres in length.
Construction on the bridge began in January 2011. Over the course of the year, earthwork and concrete work was completed for the north and south abutments and the bridge's piers were completed.
Grading of the connecting roadways is expected to begin in the 2012 construction season, as is construction of the connecting roadways. Once the girders are installed, the remaining work involves building and paving the bridge deck.
"The new St. Louis Bridge will complete the final link in a 683-km-long primary weight corridor from Assiniboia in the south to La Ronge in the north," Reiter said. "In turn, this will support our growing economy and population by creating efficiencies for shippers and truckers and improving safety for motorists."
Work completed in the 2011 construction season is part of the government's 2011-12 highway capital construction budget of $285.3 million, the largest in the province's history.
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For more information, contact:
Doug Wakabayashi
Highways and Infrastructure
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4804
Email: doug.wakabayashi@gov.sk.ca