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Jones Bridge placed at site

Jones_Bridge_Placement_Web.jpg

 

Jones Bridge lifted, placed at future home of pedestrian bridge on the South Huron Trail

The local community has surpassed $250,000 in donations or pledges raised for a new pedestrian bridge on the South Huron Trail. There is a need for $50,000 more in donations to reach the fundraising goal to complete the Jones Bridge project. 

It is a milestone to have reached the $250,000 mark in money raised for this project “building a bridge to a safer, more active community.” 

Another major milestone was the lifting and placing of the bridge structure on the pier and abutments at the bridge site, downstream of Morrison Dam, on Thursday, November 15, 2018.

Television, radio, and newspaper reporters were at the bridge site on Thursday to record the historic placement of the steel bridge. The contractor, VanDriel Excavating Inc., placed the two sections of Jones Bridge on the pier and abutments on Thursday. The contractors used two large excavators to move, lift, and place the bridge, which was built by Iron Bridge Fabrication Inc. of Brunner.

The complete steel bridge is 52 metres in length and has anti-slip deck planks, self-weathering steel that creates a protective rust coating through natural processes, and galvanized steel railings on the bridge’s insides.

Ausable Bayfield Conservation hopes to make an announcement in the coming weeks when the bridge is to be open to the public and when sections of the MacNaughton-Morrison Section of the South Huron Trail are to be reopened. In the meantime, there is still some construction work to be finished at the bridge site, including work on trail surfaces and ancillary structures so the public is reminded to stay away from the construction site. Ausable Bayfield Conservation posts Notices of Service Disruptions related to the trail on the abca.ca website on this web page link: www.abca.ca/newsitems.php?type=disruptions

Currently, users of the South Huron Trail have to walk beside vehicle traffic along the Morrison Line roadway in order to travel from one section of the trail to the other. Thanks to the community support for Jones Bridge, people will soon be able to travel from one trail section to the other without walking beside vehicle traffic in order to do it.

The bridge is called Jones Bridge as it is dedicated by Donna Jones, in loving memory of Ted Jones. Ted Jones was a dedicated community volunteer and conservationist and a long-time director of the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation and a long-time member of the Exeter Lions Club.

Donations to the Jones Bridge project, made directly to Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation, are eligible for charitable gift receipts for income tax purposes. To learn more, or to donate, visit abca.ca or phone 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610. You are also invited to contact any of the members of the community working group. Their names are in the bridge brochure available online and in printed copies.

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