Alex Vacca, of Ellis Engineering, Mayor Barbara Henderson and Tom Rankin, of Rankin Construction, stand in front of the new Quarry Road Bridge. The $520,000 project was funded through the provincial Rural Infrastructure Investment Initiative to replace the old bridge which was built in 1926.

Although there were a couple bumps along the way, the Quarry Road Bridge was reopened on time and nearly on budget,

The original bridge was built in 1926 and had to be replaced due to failures in wingwalls and parapet walls. Ground was broken on the site in January with an expected completion date of mid-June. The bridge officially opened June 9 at 4:30 p.m.

The design was contracted to Ellis Engineering and construction was carried out by Rankin Construction. Rankin had to remove and replace the existing structure.

Early in the contract site conditions forced a re-engineering on the substructure of the bridge. Unanticipated loose bedrock resulted in costly construction and design changes, said director of operation Greg Wuisman. He said the project is expected to come within one per cent of the original budget despite the sudden changes.

The bridge base was constructed underwater, meaning the water did not have to be drained from site, a more economic option.

The design includes a Con-span pre-cast concrete arch bridge. The new parapet walls were constructed with cast-in-place concrete with a re-usable formliner and state-of-the-art anti-corrosion technology.

This was the first major infrastructure funding the township has received in a decade.