A pair of reports on what may have caused the failure of the Nipigon River Bridge won’t be released until the fall, says the Ministry of Transportation.
In a July 4 statement, the ministry said it has been working to figure out what happened since the 252-metre cable-stayed bridge failed in January, two months after opening.
The ministry has received two reports — one from Surface Science Western and one from the Faculty of Engineering at Western University — into the bolts that held the bridge together.
However, the ministry wants to do more investigating before releasing the results.
“The bolt study provided us with only a partial answer about the bridge, and as such we think it’s premature to discuss it on its own at this time,” reads a ministry statement.
“The findings of these reviews are informing the ongoing work to determine what happened to the bridge. We feel it is important to present a full picture.”
The ministry said it would provide the public with more information once “all the work is complete and the causes are known.”
Hailed as the province’s “crown jewel” by Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle in the government’s ongoing four-laning of Highway 11-17 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon, the span is the first cable suspension bridge in Ontario and comes with a $106-million price tag.
On Jan. 11, traffic across the bridge was reduced to one lane after bolts holding a girder to a bearing on an expansion joint broke on the north side of the bridge, causing the eastern section of the bridge to rise about two feet.
A temporary repair was made to the bridge and is working as anticipated, the ministry said, and the bridge remains safe for use.
Meanwhile, the ministry said demolition of the old bridge is complete and construction of the third tower is underway.
