KENORA — A vital bridge in this Lake of the Woods city will have important work done on it in a few months.
Maintenance work on the Keewatin Channel Bridge is expected to take place in late summer or early fall, according to the city’s website.
A protective coating will be applied to the bridge’s underside for rust protection. “For steel bridges,” the website says, “this is regular preventative maintenance.”
The province is providing $5.9 million for the bridge maintenance and improvement to the intersection of Lakeview Drive (Highway 17) and Minnesota Street near Norman Park.
Precisely how much the bridge work will cost is unclear, Mayor Andrew Poirier said.
He said the city “put out a tender and we have a general idea, but it’s what the market bears, right?”
The city may have to cover some of the cost itself, but it has resources to do so, Poirier said.
Kenora is also “going to be spending multiple millions” on some of its 20 other bridges, he added.
The Keewatin Channel Bridge is “probably the most important bridge” in town, he said.
It’s not far from “where property was just purchased for a new hospital, hopefully to be announced at some point in the near future,” he said.
Kenora Chiefs Advisory announced last week the purchase of 118 acres from GreenFirst Forest Products for a future 81-unit hospital and a long-term care facility.
