Bridge needs replacing not rails

Anna-stell Vaughn of Charleston has been writing letters of concern for the past year and a half to the provincial Department of Transportation and Public Works.

Queens County MLA Vicki Conrad also questioned when the bridge will be repaired.

Construction of the Salters Brook Bridge took place in 1956.

A bridge inspection report done in April 2007 rated the bridge as poor, said Vaughn.

Vaughn wrote her first letter in Sept. 2006, saying she felt the bridge was unsafe to handle the weight of today’s traffic.

The current weight restriction is 28 tonnes.

She also knows this restriction is not being enforced as she sees logging trucks going across the bridge. She added a school bus and other heavy vehicles also cross the bridge.

Vehicle compliance knows about the trucks, but they can’t catch them, added Vaughn.

The Department of Transportation and Public Works responded to Vaughn’s letter by saying aging roads and bridges in Nova Scotia is a challenging situation.

At that time, officials did not anticipate funding would be available to fix the bridge, said Vaughn.

In June 2007 she wrote another letter after seeing the bridge dip in the middle as a logging truck crossed it.

The Department of Transportation and Public Works replied, stating it would fix the guardrails this past summer.

The work has just started this winter, added Vaughn.

“What we don’t understand - why put rails on an old bridge that has a poor rating?” she said. “To me, what’s the sense? The bridge is deteriorating. Why spend the money on the rails?”

Vaughn would like to see a new bridge put in.

“Our concern is someone is going to be on that bridge and it’s going to go down,” she said.

Secondly, she said, “I don’t want to be stranded here.”

She said if the bridge went out, the only way to get to Liverpool would be to drive to Greenfield, then connect onto Highway 8.

She estimated it would take about an hour.

A Department of Transportation spokesperson recently stated an evaluation is underway and that work of some kind will be undertaken in 2008.