TEHKUMMAH—Traffic is once again flowing over the Tehkummah’s Manitou River Bridge, although some finishing touches such as guardrails are still being applied.
“Yes, I did drive across last Wednesday and it was lovely,” said Tehkummah Councillor Lydia McKenna, who reportedly drove the first vehicle across the span. “They did a good job.”
Ms. McKenna, who works in South Baymouth, dealt with the impediment to her daily work commute by keeping one vehicle on each side of the bridge.
She described the workers as being “very polite and courteous. They told me when I needed to move the car so it wasn’t in the way,” she said.
Ms. McKenna expressed satisfaction that the bridgework is finally being completed. “They had a number of delays that were beyond council’s control,” said Ms. McKenna, who sat on Tehkummah council when the decision to refurbish the bridge was made. Ms. McKenna conjectured that the bridge issue played a role in her electoral defeat and that of longtime Tehkummah Reeve Gary Brown in this October’s municipal elections. “The weather didn’t help either,” she added.
Reeve Brown noted that delays due to steel shortages played a role in the delay and that the contract signed by the township had included a penalty clause should construction deadlines not be met.
“The construction company had asked for an extension,” he said, adding that any decision on implementing penalty clauses will be a decision for the incoming council to make. “That will be up to them,” he said.
Councillor McKenna said that there is never a “good time” to do construction work on a bridge that impedes local travel as much as the Manitou span, but that the work needed to be done and she is happy with the decision to move forward.
“There was vegetation growing up between the boards on the bridge,” she said. “There is no good time to do it, so we chose the best of the worst time. Hopefully people will be happy with the work now that it is done and it will be safe for people to travel. It would have been far worse to have waited until there was an accident.”
