Hastings Swing Bridge Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site
Backgrounder
The swing bridge in the Village of Hastings, located on County Road 45, at Lock 18, has been replaced and is opening to vehicle traffic close to a month ahead of schedule. Construction began on January 4th and, at that time, the bridge was scheduled to be open to traffic in mid-May 2016. Favourable weather, throughout the winter months, supported the necessary construction work and led to this early opening. The replacement of the swing bridge is an important investment, which now provides a new structure with a 75-year lifespan, at the heart of the Hastings community.
All detour signs associated with the project will be updated to reflect the altered re-opening date. While the swing bridge will be opened to vehicle traffic on April 29th, 2016, pedestrians will continue to use the temporary crossing until concrete repairs to the sidewalks are complete. Work will continue on the new bridge as the contractor completes work on some of the mechanical and electrical components, repaints parts of the bridge, and conducts routine testing of the new structure. Throughout this work, while there may be intermittent closures of the bridge, it will be safe for vehicle traffic. This work is currently forecast to be complete by May 16th, 2016.
Additional work will continue at the site until June 2016 as the contractor removes the upstream cofferdam and the temporary pedestrian crossing. Demobilization from the construction site will occur following remediation work to return the landscape to its prior state.
Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site
The Trent-Severn Waterway flows 386 kilometres across central Ontario, linking the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay through a system of rivers, lakes, canals and locks. Operated by Parks Canada, the Trent-Severn Waterway is also Canada’s largest national historic site as the Trent-Severn watershed covers an area over 18,000 km2.
First Nations people have lived and travelled along the route that today makes up the Trent-Severn for many thousands of years. The formalized system of locks, canal, and water control structures was built over a period of 87 years, with the first lock built in Bobcaygeon in 1833 and the waterway being completed in 1920.
In addition to being a navigable passage for boaters, the Trent-Severn Waterway offers Canadians and visitors from around the world an opportunity to marvel at remarkable feats of engineering – including two lift locks, two flight locks, a marine railway, 36 conventional locks, 50 kilometres of canals, and approximately 160 dams and water control structures.
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