McNally Foundation offers $1M to save Valley Inn Road bridge - Hamilton closed the beloved 'clickety-clack' bridge over safety concerns last December
September 11, 2020 | Hamilton Spectator, The (Ontario, Canada)
Author: Matthew Van Dongen The Hamilton Spectator | Page: A1,A2 | Section: Local / News
698 Words
A charitable foundation is offering up to $1 million to save the beloved-but-crumbling "clickety-clack" bridge on Valley Inn Road.
The 56-year-old rattling timber span was closed to cyclists, runners and visitors to Royal Botanical Gardens natural lands last December after a city bridge inspection found failing support girders.
A repair or replacement plan was complicated by the discovery that the boundary with Burlington falls in the middle of the pedestrian bridge spanning the outlet of Grindstone Creek at the harbour. A municipal COVID-19 cash crunch made repair prospects even more grim.
That's why the Patrick J. McNally Charitable Foundation has offered to "cover the entire bill" for repairs up to $1 million, said Graham McNally, grandson of the foundation's namesake.
That work could include using cranes to lift the rickety bailey bridge out of its half-century-old home, repair the structure off-site, and carefully placing it back onto refurbished concrete abutments - likely sometime next year.
It's not yet clear whether a rehabilitated bridge would allow vehicle traffic once again. The current span was closed to cars a decade ago to prolong its life.
