Temporary sidewalk causes concern in Murray Harbour

Some residents in Murray Harbour, P.E.I. are concerned thata temporary wooden sidewalk installed across a bridge leading in and out of community, makes the roadtoo narrow.

John Robertson has lived inthe areafor more than 11 years. He said it's a tight fit across the bridge with a S-curve leading into it.

"That's a great temptation for a lot of people to speed up into the curve, come around a double curve into a bridge,"Robertson said. "I've seen people go over the curb, I've seen people go over the sidewalk on the bridge."

The sidewalk will be replaced, but not until next spring.

So, the province built a temporary wooden structure over the existing sidewalk.

"The department felt that it's unsafe to use at this point and time, partly because of the deterioration of the concrete and part of the pedestrian traffic over it as far as turning an ankle. It's not a good surface to walk on,"said Stephen Yeo, chief engineer for the province.

"You see a lot of rebar showing through and on the side too that the guardrail structure is attached to also has some deterioration."

At Wednesday's community council meeting, some residents said the temporary sidewalk makes the road over the bridge narrow and challenging to navigate when morethan one vehicle is using the bridge.

"It's been deteriorating for a long time and this is long overdue," Robertson added. "It didn't happen overnight. It would have been better for everyone if we'd tackled this problem earlier and didn't have to go with this temporary fix through the winter."

He's particularly concerned about the impact of a buildup of ice and snow on the temporary sidewalk and on the width of the road.

"During the winter months, there's a local saying. We say we're four feet of ice under five feet of snow, so good luck to that temporary structure," said Robertson.

The province says the lanes are within provincial standards. Itbelievesthere's enough width for two-way traffic to meet, and isn't concerned.

"What we do want to do is just make people are aware because there's curves at both ends of the bridge that when you're approaching we have the speed limit down to 30 km/h, and we'll have message boards up there stating that slow down, be careful and just proceed with caution," said Yeo.

"Sight distance, a vehicle comingin that's not paying attention to speed limit that's a concern to us, but with the information that's going to be provided to the drivers, they should make sure they proceed at the correct speed and proceed with caution," Yeo added.

Yeo said drivers should exercise caution when approaching the bridge, particularly if a larger piece of farm equipment needs to cross the bridge.

The temporary structure will remain in place over the winter until construction begins on a new sidewalk next year. That construction is expected to take six to eightweeks to complete.

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