CORNWALL, Ontario – Painstaking work to get the iconic arch of the Seaway International Bridge lowered to the ground finally ended at about 10:30 p.m.
Cheers went up from those watching the spectacle and the iron workers who completed the work laughed and shook hands when the massive piece of steel finally touched down on support pads on the ground.
The apparatus used to lower the arch was operating at about 15 feet an hour, making the event an all-day affair.
“It was quite a sight to see,” said Robert Lefebvre, who witnessed the touchdown.
Witnesses believed the work to lower the arch to the ground had been halted when a cable snapped, but iron workers told Seaway News that more than 100 cables are supporting the bridge on its journey to the ground and the process has continued unabated.
Lights were set up at the site to allow for work after sunset.
Bob Earle has lived in the bridge’s shadow for 77 years, just a few hundred metres away on Pine Lane, where he grew up and still lives with his wife, Myrna.
“I watched them build it, and now I’m watching them tear it down,” said Earle. “I never liked it. I’m overjoyed to see it come down, because it was dirty and noisey. No love lost here.”
The cente span will now be cut up.
The $15-million demolition project is being overseen by Morrison Hershfield. The engineering company’s contract administrator Robert Goulet told Seaway News construction crew members will be lowering the centre span at 18-feet an hour, and there is roughly 110-feet from the suspended piece to the ground.
For more information, visit www.pontcornwallbridge.ca.
