Merrittville Highway between Decew Road and Beaverdams Road will be closed for nearly a year starting in early September as the bridge over Lake Gibson and adjoining causeway will be replaced.

If your commute to Brock includes Merrittville Highway, it’s going to take you some extra time to get to work starting in September.

Merrittville Highway at the Power Canal (Merritville Highway) Bridge will be closed for nearly a year as the bridge over Lake Gibson is replaced in a major regional road construction project. Local access to residences and businesses on Merritville Highway between Decew Road and Beaverdams Road will be maintained throughout the project; however, no through traffic will be permitted.

The bridge replacement is the second phase of a Niagara Region project, the first phase being the replacement of the Beaverdams Road bridge over Lake Gibson that is nearing completion.

Jason Marr, the Region’s Senior Transportation Project Engineer, said once Beaverdams Road is re-opened, work will immediately get under way on Merrittville Highway.

“They’re scheduled to complete the Beaverdams Road bridge at the end of  August or beginning of September … then they’ll move on to Merrittville and use Beaverdams as the detour route,” Marr said.

The year-long timeline is because of the extensive changes that will happen at and near the Merrittville bridge.

“Right now it’s a steel pony-truss structure with very narrow lanes and a narrow causeway leading up to the bridge,” Marr said.

In addition to replacing the entire bridge structure, the causeways will be widened to make way for 3.5-metre vehicle lanes, as well as paved bike lanes in both directions.

As for getting around the construction, Marr said although some drivers may use Cataract or Beaverdams roads and then Decew Road, the posted detour will use regional roads only. That means drivers will be directed to take Beaverdams Road to Collier Road and then onto St. David’s Road. Taking Highway 406 will also be a quick way around the road closure.

“Especially for heavier truck traffic, we want to keep them on regional roads that are able to support the traffic loads,” Marr said.