A major construction project along Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam will take two more months.
On Monday, Sept. 25, the city told the Tri-City News that the Lougheed bridge deck repair that started in the spring will now end in late November.
Commuters along the busy route have had to file into a single lane on the eastern side of the highway 24/7 — since May 8 — for the rehabilitation work on the Scott Creek Bridge.
Coquitlam and TransLink are spending $2.4 million to replace the concrete deck of the 48-year-old structure.
Chad Braley, Coquitlam's manager of capital projects and inspections, said the eastern bridge deck was poured last Friday, Sept. 22, and it needs two weeks to cure.
And once traffic can roll on that side, construction will move to the western lanes of Lougheed Highway to wrap up the work.
"We expect that the west side of the bridge will proceed more quickly than the east side based on the contractor's learnings from completing the east side," Braley said.
"As such, it is anticipated that the west side will take eight weeks to complete."
At an April meeting, Jaime Boan, Coquitlam's general manager of engineering and public works, told council that city staff were meeting with the contractor, Klondike Infrastructure Ltd., to see if the project could be expedited.
At the time, Boan advised commuters to find alternate routes, but he also warned home and business owners along Westwood Street, Mariner Way and Como Lake Avenue that those routes will also be impacted with diverting traffic.
