New Queensway bridge completed

Sparse traffic appeared to be moving on the Queensway near Carling Avenue on Sunday evening after major reconstruction on a bridge.

Ministry of Transportation webcams on the highway north and south of Carling showed a few cars going in each direction.

The Queensway was scheduled to close in both directions from 6 p.m. on Saturday to 11 a.m. on Sunday as ministry contractors used "rapid replacement technology"  to move a giant bridge span into place.

But the ministry tweeted that the job was completed in just 15½ hours.

The new bridge is 21 metres long and weigh about 700 tonnes.    

The old bridge will be sliced away and carted off on a self-propelled modular transporter, a giant multi-wheeled vehicle that trundles heavy loads into place. A transporter will then put the new bridge, which was built in a staging area at the Saigon Court next to the highway, into place.

The rapid replacement system cuts the time to fix the bridges to hours from years, the ministry said.

The weekend job is the the third time on the ministry has used the technique on the Queensway. It was used before at Island Park Drive in 2007 and Clyde Avenue in 2008.    

Next to be fixed is the bridge at Carling Avenue westbound, followed by Kirkwood Avenue, the ministry said.

Traffic was reduced to one lane in each direction Sunday, but all lanes are expected to reopen Monday.