Bruce County council approved a funding transfer for the Durham Street Bridge rehabilitation project to cover cost overruns in some areas of the work.
The construction was a two-phase project that addressed both the immediate issues with the bridge, as well as long-term infrastructure needs.
Up to $2,235,000 will be transferred from the Roads, Bridges, Culverts, and Traffic Control Reserve fund to cover overages for the project.
“These incurred overruns were primarily driven by unforeseen site conditions, expanded concrete repair requirements, adverse winter weather, spring flooding, and schedule impacts from the transition between the phases of the project,” explained Adam Stanley, the Director of Transportation and Environmental Services.
Another $196,00 from the Canada Community Building Fund, and $469,000 Ontario Community Infrastructure funding will also be added to cover the cost of the Durham Street Bridge Reconstruction.
Although there are some overages to the rehabilitation project, the entire cost is still less than what was initially projected.
The forecasted cost of the work was expected to cost $4,100,000 for Phase 1 and $5,045,000 for Phase 2, for a total cost of $9,145,000.
Stanley said that the Durham Street Bridge will be fully open soon.
The project includes safety enhancements such as wider sidewalks for pedestrians and an upgraded railing system to meet modern crash rating standards.
The installation of wider sidewalks on the Durham Street Bridge, dated November 2025. (Image provided by Bruce County)
“Full lane re-openings are expected in July, at which point the weight restrictions since February 2024 will be lifted, and the bridge will return to full load capacity,” he added.
The project completion is scheduled for August of this year.
The overages were due to contract delays, winter shutdown, and diagnosed issues with Bruce Road 4, for a cost of $945,000.
Bruce Road 4 from McNab to East Hill was repaved as a part of the project.
The final cost of the bridge is now expected to be $10.8 million dollars, far less than the initial projection of $20 million to fully replace the bridge.
The project was an investigative design build project, which Stanley told council was not a typical approach to a bridge rehabilitation.
County staff was persuaded to complete the work with that approach because of the emergency need of some of the repair work.
The rehabilitation work is expected to extend the life of the Durham Street Bridge for another 40 years.
Paving work being completed along Bruce Road 4 as a part of the Durham Street Bridge rehabilitation. (Image provided by Bruce County)