Crews began work this morning on West Bench Bridge No. 1, the typically busy wooden crossing that spans the gap over the KVR Trail between West Bench Hill Road and Russet Drive on Penticton's West Bench.
Due to the repairs, the bridge, a key link for residents of the West Bench from Penticton and Hwy 97 and dump trucks traveling to and from the Westhill Aggregates gravel pit, is closed to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic from 7 am to 4 pm today and tomorrow (Sunday).
On site today was Rod Keetch, a bridge engineer with highway maintenance and service provider AIM Roads, who told PentictonNow that, "We're doing a minor rebuild on the top end."
"It sees a large volume of heavy traffic, and we've seen some movement and some noise out of the top end. On top of our regular patrol and inspections, we get reports from residents locally, and that helps us to figure out where we have issues. So we're rebuilding the deck on the top end where it's aged out and lots of the decking components have met their wear specifications."
Though it is a wooden bridge with a few years under its belt, Keetch says it remains a safe and serviceable structure.
"The bridge is of a different vintage. But it's not antiquated. The loading design is for modern loading, so that's not an issue at all."
"Our main project is dealing with the cross ties and the decking that sits above everything, to make sure that it sits well and that we get rid of some of the noise. We make sure that all the substructure lines up and everything sits on there very well."
After the repairs this weekend, Keetch says a crew will be back on site "in the next week to look at some of the work below." Closures to the road are not expected at that time, though trail users may expect very minor delays for safety reasons.
Those needing access to the West Bench during the hours of closure are advised to use the Sage Mesa Rd exit from Hwy 97.
