Groat Road to remain closed for 3 weeks

Groat Road will remain closed for at least three weeks, city transportation officials told councillors Tuesday.

The goal is to reopen the busy commuter route under the102nd Avenue Bridge by April 7.

The road was closed Friday so crews could work all weekend installing girders on the $32-million bridge replacement project. But atabout 2:15 a.m. Monday, four of the girders buckled.

This morning, Barry Belcourt, the city's manager of road design and construction, told council if the repair requiresnew girders, the bridge's opening will be delayed fora year.

Engineering teams are still trying todetermine if the girders can be repaired.

In the meantime, a crane is being assembled at the site in the hopes of stabilizing the bridge.

Still, many questions remain, said Coun. Michael Oshry.

"The first thing we need to do is figure outiswhat is the best and quickest way to get this bridge built," he told Edmonton AM's Mark Connolly.

But not only must the city find out why the four steel girders buckled,it must also figure out what to do about the traffic snarl created by the bridge failure, he said.

"The commute, its brutal," Oshry said. "Its significantly longer than it has been."

"It's a loss of productivity for the city," he said. "You're talking about tens of thousands of people stuck in traffic."