Willowcale Open In Both Directions

PRINCE GEORGE – Traffic is moving in both directions on Willowcale Road over Haggith Creek. It’s the first time in over a year that can be said. But that piece of road has a much longer history.

“It goes back to 2011 when the culvert was identified as failing,” explains Heather Robertson, the Supervisor of Engineering Services. “We went to design exercise, then we went to construction in September of 2016. We went through construction in 2016, opened the bridge to traffic on March 31, 2017, and subsequently closed the bridge on September 1st of 2017 and we’ve just re-opened it today.

When the bridge was closed to all traffic in February 2016, Council had set aside a budget of $1.8 million dollars to build a bridge rather than replace the culvert. But, when the bids came back, the lowest was over $2.5 million. Council pinched its collective noses and went ahead. As of April this year, that dollar figure had risen to over $3 million. The final figure will be coming to Council in a report at a later date.