The City of Barrie and MTO have agreed to begin construction a replacement for the Tiffin Street bridge in July.
According to Merx, the low bid for the project tender, which closed on May 31, was $26,874,000, from Dufferin Construction Company, a division of CRH Canada Group Inc.
Most of the construction costs will be covered by provincial infrastructure funding through the Ministry of Transport, with the City of Barrie paying about $5.5 million.
“The section of highway behind us was built in 1955, and it has since become one of the busiest provincial highways in Ontario,” Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said at an announcement, standing Brock Street and Dyment Road, near Highway 400.
The Barrie Examiner reported Del Duca was joined by Barrie MPP Ann Hoggarth, Barrie’s director of engineering, Jacqueline Weston and Ward 5 Coun. Peter Silveira to make the transportation infrastructure upgrades announcement.
The construction will simultaneously replace theTiffin Street overpass, and repair the Barrie-Collingwood Railway overpass.
“Construction is set to begin next month and will be completed by the fall of 2018,” Del Duca said.
The bridge is expected to be 26 metres wide, compared to 15.5 metres now. The project will widen Tiffin to five lanes, two bikes lanes and sidewalks, from Ferndale to Lakeshore Drive.
A staged replacement of the Tiffin Street overpass is being proposed.
To minimize traffic impacts on Highway 400 during construction, new northbound three-lane overpass structures will be built over Tiffin Street and BCRY, immediately adjacent on the east side of the existing structures.
Image of existing bridge from Google Street View.
