These are excerpts from the Notice of Project Initiation for the Environmental Assessment of the 10th Street bridge. The full notice and related documents are available on the City's website here.
A Phase 2 Public Information Centre (PIC) is planned to be held Thursday January 26th from 4:30 to 5:30 at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre (Shore Room 2)
The 10th Street Bridge is part of the main east-west arterial route through Owen Sound, carrying the highest traffic volumes through the City. In addition to being an integral part of the local road network, the bridge is part of a Provincial Highways Connecting Link system and a connection for Grey County roads. It services significant volumes of heavy truck traffic and is relied upon by commercial and emergency vehicles.
Based on the results of biennial bridge inspections, the existing bridge is deteriorating at an advancing rate. As a result, load posting restrictions or closure of the bridge may be required in the near future. This would have significant negative effects on the local and regional transportation system and the economy. Therefore, the City of Owen Sound is studying alternative solutions to continue to provide a high level of service for personal, commercial and emergency vehicles through the City's downtown corridor, while providing minimal disruption to the community in the coming years.Currently, three alternative solutions are being considered
i) Do Nothing.
ii) Repair the Existing Bridge, and
iii) Replace the Existing Bridge with a New Bridge
Through the work completed to date, the Study Team has identified Alternative 3 as the Recommended Solution; to Replace the Existing Bridge with a New Bridge. Documentation of the development and review of alternatives completed to date is provided in Version 1 of the Environmental Study Report (ESR), which is available on the City's website. At this point in the process, the Recommended Solution is presented for review by the Public and various Review Agencies for their consideration and comment.
All comments are considered. Once comments are rec eived, the Study Team re-evaluates the Recommended Solution and presents the findings to the Council of the City of Owen Sound for acceptance of a Preferred Solution.
Once a Preferred Solution to Phase 2 of the Study process is adopted by Council, the Study Team will advance to Phase 3 of the process, which involves development and consideration of Alternative Design Concepts. A future Public Information Centre will present a Recommended Design Alternativ e as part of Phase 4 of the Study process. Phase 5 of the process is the Implementation Phase, including final design, approvals and construction.
Public involvement is an important component of this project planning. The public is encouraged to provide written comments to the Project Manager at any time during the process.
Following the Public Information Session January 26th, a brief presentation of the Study process and findings to date will be made by the Study Team and public discussion and comments will be further encouraged.