Building plan announced for Blue Water Bridge plaza

OTTAWA — The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited (FBCL) has announced the next phase of work towards implementing its the Blue Water Bridge (BWB) Master Plan located in Point Edward, Ont.

The FBCL indicated in a media statement released March 1 it is initiating a series of work over the next few years, with work beginning this spring, to improve the bridge plaza including the construction of an emergency return road, the demolition of a vacant commercial building on the bridge plaza and related civil works.

The new emergency return road will provide important safety and efficiency improvements for the bridge operations, says the FBCL.

It will serve to connect the commercial compound on the south side of the bridge to the plaza and bridge approach on the north side.

This connection is essential to provide unrestricted bridge access to emergency first responders, to ease the return of commercial and traffic vehicles to the U.S., to facilitate outbound inspections, to allow broker access for U.S.-bound commercial vehicles and to improve the entry and exit of maintenance and delivery vehicles on the bridge plaza.

All projects are located within the existing limits of the FBCL-Blue Water Bridge property.

The emergency return road construction will require the vacancy and demolition of four FBCL-BWB-owned residential properties.

These properties, located along St. Clair Street in Point Edward, were purchased as part of the long-term strategic plan.

The old commercial building, which was replaced by the new Blue Water Bridge Corporate Centre in 2009, located next to the Canada Border Services Agency traffic operations, is to be demolished.

Each project’s scope and schedule will be announced at a later date once the various design investigation activities, including excavation and associated archeological requirements, are completed.

The FBCL operates the Canadian section of the Blue Water Bridge.

Prior to 2015, the bridge was owned by the Blue Water Bridge Authority (BWBA), another parent federal Crown corporation.

In 2015, BWBA was amalgamated with the FBCL.