Three potential bridge designs and a variety of road configurations are being considered for the Grier Creek bridge replacement, Grey County officials told a public meeting, Friday.

About 30 people attended the meeting, at the Marsh Street Centre, to listen to ideas for design of the bridge, the road approaches and landscaping restoration of the roadside and driveways. However, much of the session was spent going over old ground as county officials and consultants again faced questions about the need to replace the bridge.

The project is currently the subject of a Class B Environmental Assessment process.

The bridge, on The Blue Mountains-Grey Highlands Townline, is about 70 years old. Engineering reports say the one-lane bridge is crumbling and needs to be replaced. If nothing is done, said Grey County Director of Transportation and Public Safety (TAPS) Gary Shaw, the bridge will have to be closed within the next five years.

Although it could be repaired, Shaw and the county's engineering consultants said, the repairs would only extend the bridge's life by a maximum of 15 years and it would have to be replaced anyway. In the meantime, there would be additional repair and maintenance costs.

The county received $1 million in funding from the federal-provincial COMRIF program to replace the bridge and bring the road approaches up to modern standards. The county and the two municipalities will share the remaining estimated $500,000 cost of the project.

According to a summary of 38 public comment sheets submitted following a public meeting in September, 15 respondents favour upgrading the bridge to a two-lane structure with a 50-km/h design standard for the bridge and road approaches. Seven others supported a two-lane bridge designed to a 60-km/h standard, while nine wanted to see the existing bridge replaced with a new one-lane structure.

At its November 8 meeting, the County TAPS Committee endorsed the two-lane bridge/50 km/h design as the preferred option.

Several neighbouring property owners, at Friday's meeting,  indicated they support the two-lane bridge and upgraded road - including lessening of the grade of the slopes on either side of the bridge - provided the municipalities reduce the speed limit to 50 km/hr or lower and post signs.and direct police to enforce the limit.

The county has three bridge designs on the table. Two of those - a steel arch and a concrete arch - are basic structures commonly used for short-span bridges. The third is a bow-string design, similar to the Black Bridge in Clarksburg.

Although the bow-string design might have a more appealing look, the engineers explained, the cost is significantly higher than for the two more-common structures.

Shaw explained that the interested residents are being asked to consider a total package that includes road reconstruction, rehabilitating the drainage ditches and retaining walls on either side of the road, and restoring the roadside and entrances to neighbouring properties.

Choosing the bow-string bridge, Shaw  explained, would leave less money for road works and restoration.

Tony Bender, one of the neighbours, said he favours the more basic concrete bridge design, provided it includes a sidewalk to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists.

"This road is used quite often by cyclists and hikers," he said.

Neighbour Carol Solursh said her preference would be for the design, "that has the least environmental impact". She said the road is currently closed during the winter, when the south slope isn't plowed because it's too unsafe for traffic.

"It's nice, now. It's quiet .The deer come back once the road is closed," she said.

Several others said they want to have a chance to review the cost estimates for the various options before deciding which type of structure they prefer.

Copies of cost estimates for the various options were distributed at the meeting. Interested people were asked to complete comment forms, indicating their preference, and submit them by Dec. 21.

Kim Allerton, a landscape architect hired to design the restoration project, said she's aware of the need to carefully restore the area once the work is finished.

She said she believes a bio-engineering approach would be the best option for restoring the creek banks and steep slopes along the roadside. Bio-engineering, she said, "is using plants to do what engineers do with steel and concrete." She showed slides from a couple of projects in similar terrain in which the brush and trees had filled in along the creek bank in about 15 years.

"My role is to ensure we do all that is possible to restore this place as a special place after the reconstruction," Allerton told the meeting. She added that she would meet, one-on-one, with property owners to try to restore their driveway entrances and any land affected by the work.
Gerry and Carol Solursh, who live near the bridge, continued to campaign to keep the existing bridge, arguing there's no need to replace it.

However, Howard Grieg, chair of the county's Transportation and Public Safety (TAPS)  Committee told the meeting the county believes a one-lane structure is a safety hazard, especially when the bridge is located at the bottom of a ravine as in the case of the Grier Creek Bridge.

"In general, one-lane bridges are dangerous. That's why no one builds one-lane bridges anymore," Greig told the meeting. He added that the county isn't willing to keep a one-lane bridge and risk major liability if a serious accident occurs.

But Gerry Solursh argued that there have been only a couple of accidents on the road in the past eight years, so he doesn't believe there is anadded safety concern if the existing bridge is simply repaired.

The Solurshes and some of their neighbours are worried that there will be more traffic  if the bridge is expanded and the road is upgraded. That, they said, will create more of a traffic danger than the existing, lightly-travelled, bridge.

The Solurshes said they're also worried that the true cost of the project will end up above the limit for Class B Environmental Assessment  projects. The cost limit on Class B projects, according to engineering consultant John Slocombe, is $2.2 million.

"My concern is that you'll slip over the limit and we'll find out we should have asked for a 'bump up" of the EA," Gerry Solursh said. "By then the project will be done and it will be too late."
Greig answered that, "politically, I think you'd find that county council isn't going to be willing to throw more money at this."

The Solurshes made it clear they don't trust the information coming from the county.

"We've been blind-sided," Carol Solursh told the meeting. "We don't know which way is up on this whole thing."

But Shaw responded that county officials have tried to provide accurate information to the Solurshes and their neighbours from the beginning. He said the existing state of the bridge isn't acceptable and the county's options are to either replace the bridge and road with a safer thoroughfare or close it.

Slocombe added that the county is trying to meet the residents halfway by including some of the required studies for a Class C EA in the current process. Although that isn't required, he said, officials are hoping it will provide the level of information needed to resolve outstanding issues.

The next steps in the process will the choice of the preferred design concept, which will be presented a public meeting early in 2008. A recommended design will be chosen after that and presented to the TAPS Committee. The final recommendation would be presented to a public meeting next June, after which the EA report would be completed and a 30-day review period would begin.

Consulting engineer Brent Willis said the goal is to undertake construction sometime in the latter half of 2008.