Sudburys Big Fix: Infrastructure repairs involve big money

Cities and towns across the country, including in northeastern Ontario, are struggling to fix aging infrastructure andsome say extreme measures will be necessary unless investments are made.

For the town of Iroquois Falls, near Timmins, the future has arrived.

The mayor of the community said concrete barriers are about to go up at both ends of an aging bridge in that town.

Gilles Forget said people who live on the other side can still get to town, but it will take longer to make the commute.

The bridge dates back to the 1940s. During a regular inspection, an engineer determined it needs to be replaced immediately.

At a cost of $6 million, Forget says the cost will eat up more than half of the towns $11 million annual budget. So the bridge is being closed instead.

Certainly as the mayor and council, we are responsible for the safety of our people, he said.

We dont want our residents or anybody else really to be involved in some sort of crisis with that bridge.

The bridge will likely stay closed until the province can provide money to fix it, Forget said.

Cant afford to maintain them

Small towns may be amongthe first tofeelthe effects of a massive repair backlog, but some say cities like Greater Sudbury are also moving in that direction.

Some bridges may have to be closed down because we just cant afford to maintain them, said GregClausen,a retired engineer who worked with the city of GreaterSudburyfor almost three decades.

I think it is inevitable that you will see some changes in the bridges in Sudbury and right across the entire province.

Sudbury's roads department said the gap betweenspending and what is needed to deal with the infrastructure repair backlogsits at about $700 million.

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