MERRITT HERALD EST. 1905
THURSDAY, October 31, 2024 • www.X.com/merrittherald • www.merrittherald.com
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Middlesboro Bridge to reopen
Clowns, creepy dolls, evil doctor, zombies and other creatures were haunting Merritt last weekend. Page 8. Photo/Laísa Condé
B.C. ELECTION
NEW TRUCK
The B.C. NDP forms slim majority after The Merritt Fire & Rescue Department has Elections B.C.’s final count. upgraded their fleet with a new off-road truck.
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Kenneth Wong The City of Merritt is set to reopen the Middlesboro Bridge in November, marking a major milestone in the city’s recovery efforts following the devastating 2021 floods. A ceremony at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov 16. will mark the reopening of the newly rebuilt bridge. The new bridge, designed to withstand future extreme flood events, will reconnect the community and provide a critical transportation link across the Coldwater River. “The reopening of the Middlesboro Bridge is a milestone for Merritt, symbolizing our resilience and commitment to building a stronger future,” said Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz. “This bridge connects not just roads, but our community as we move forward together.” The new bridge, designed and built by Emil Anderson Construction, is engineered to handle water levels nearly four times higher than the previous structure and is built 1.45 metres higher to accommodate a 65 per cent increase in water volume. The bridge also features a clear-span structure, eliminating the middle pier to reduce debris collection and minimize the environmental
impact on the river. “(The middle pier) caused a lot of inconsistent flows around the pier - it causes sedimentation and debris to build up there,” said Emil Anderson project manager Kyle Jones. “Whereas our design, there’s no centre pier (and) it’s a clear span, so it allows the river to return to its natural state.” Construction, which began in March 2024, has progressed ahead of schedule. Emil Anderson faced challenges in aligning the schedule, procurement, and permitting to complete the Middlesboro Bridge within one season. “There were a lot of things that needed to come together from a contract award and early works contract that Merritt let us proceed on,” said Jones. “An early works portion of the contract to demolish the existing bridge, which if they didn’t allow us to do that, it would have been very challenging to build the bridge in one season. “It also saved a lot of money on (the City’s) end, because then we could do the demolition during low flows in the river, and under
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