Construction of a new bridge that will connect Sluice Point and Surette’s Island is moving along as scheduled and the new structure is expected to be complete by the summer of 2014, said Nova Scotia’s minister of transportation and infrastructure renewal, reports The Vanguard.
Maurice Smith said he had spoken with staff about the project “and I’ve been informed that construction is on track and progressing well.”
Providing an update on the project recently, the minister said, “two of four caissons are being installed. Two caissons will be installed at each pier location. The caissons, or watertight foundation structures, are six-foot in diameter and will help the bridge last for 100 years.”
The existing bridge is over a century old, the structure having opened in 1909. Activities marking the centennial of the Indian Sluice Bridge were held in the summer of 2009.
The province has said the bridge is safe – saying it is inspected regularly – but in 2011 the province announced it was moving up the construction timetable for the Indian Sluice Bridge replacement. It made sense, the government said, to move up the startup date for a new bridge, rather than continue to make repairs to a structure it was planning to replace anyway.
Last fall, the province announced that Dexter Construction had been awarded the $13.5-million Indian Sluice Bridge contract.
