The Canadian province of British Columbia will replace the deck and rehabilitate the sub-deck of the southbound Simon Fraser Bridge in the city of Prince George.
The original Simon Fraser Bridge, which carries provincial Highway 97, was built in 1963 and is still the main north-south route through Prince George in the north-central region of the province. In 2009, the bridge was twinned, with the completion of an adjacent northbound two-lane bridge. This brought the Simon Fraser River crossing to four-lane capacity.
Work on the original bridge will include replacement of the north abutment to improve the current underpass height restrictions to allow taller commercial transport trucks to pass underneath. Other works include replacing the railings on both sides of the bridge with crash-tested bridge barriers and the creation of wider shoulders.
Total project budget is US$16.4 million (CAN$20.5 million) and the province has awarded the contract to Ruskin Construction, based in Prince George, a city of around 75,000 and at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako rivers.
Last March, the British Columbia awarded Pennecon Heavy Civil a contract to replace the aging two-lane bridge at Quartz Creek with a new four-lane bridge. The $48.6 million contract includes widening 4.4km of the Trans-Canada Highway from two to four lanes.
Also last year, the provincial government announced that a toll-free eight-lane immersed-tube tunnel will replace the George Massey Tunnel on Highway 99 near Vancouver.
