Both lanes of the Deh Cho Bridge will finally reopen by the end of 2024, infrastructure minister Caroline Wawzonek said on Tuesday.
The bridge, which cost $200 million to build, spans the Mackenzie River just outside Fort Providence, providing a year-round highway link between Yellowknife and the south.
Traffic has been down to one lane on the bridge since one of 24 giant cables came away.
The fault was eventually traced to a “metal adjustment bar” connecting the cable to its anchor on the bridge.
In the legislature on Tuesday, Wawzonek put a price tag on fixing that: $7 million.
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The work involves having the original manufacturer recast 24 of the bars so all of them can be replaced as a precautionary measure. Those bars are “en route,” Wawzonek said, and a contractor is standing by to install them once they arrive.
“Early on, people were saying an estimate of having it rebuilt this fall. Fall, of course, can be September, but really there’s only been a slight delay in that delivery, and so I’m happy to say that they’re expected to be here in November,” the minister said.
“If they’re here at the beginning of November [and] we’re looking to mobilize the construction at the same time, folks should be able to be using it this calendar year.”
For the past year, the bridge has operated using only one lane as a safety measure with one of its cables down.
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That has meant the inconvenience of a lengthy wait for the traffic lights guarding the remaining lane to cycle.
Wawzonek was answering questions put to her by Deh Cho MLA Sheryl Yakeleya.
Yakeleya, who represents Fort Providence, said residents were “concerned about the traffic delays and worried about potential safety issues.”
