Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton says the provincial Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI) has decided to keep the Wheaton Covered Bridge in place, and add a second modern, modular bridge next to it. The replacement will be wide enough and strong enough to support farm equipment and emergency response vehicles, says Mitton. There’s still no timeline on when the new bridge will be in place, but Mitton says she’s been told it will not be constructed by this summer.
The 109-year-old covered bridge has been closed to traffic since July of last year. Farmers in the area have been using detour routes since the bridge was closed, in some cases adding 40 minutes each way to trips hauling hay or cattle.
Chignecto Soil and Crop Association board member Fred Anderson says farmers were hoping for a fix for the crossing this year. The group had favoured a plan to lift the wooden heritage bridge from its current location, and then add a modern bridge in its place. But, says Mitton, “DTI told me that’s not possible. They looked into it and it just wasn’t an option.”
Mitton says she is working getting DTI to speed up the timeline for the side-by-side bridge plan to at least match the predicted shorter timeline for the bridge replacement. “I’m trying to end up with a similar outcome,” says Mitton, “because really, some of the obstacles in terms of the timeline are more bureaucratic than actually just building the bridge. And so I’m trying to see how I can reduce those.”
Mitton says that DTI told her that “no option is going to have something in place for the summer of 2025.”
“But I’m pushing for as soon as possible,” says Mitton. “Even if it can’t be in this construction season, maybe it can be soon after.”
Anderson says he will be speaking to affected farmers to determine a response to the news.
Best case scenario for heritage
Heritage advocate and president of Tantramar Heritage Trust, Logan Atkinson, says leaving the bridge in place is the best case scenario from a heritage perspective, but the challenge begins there. The bridge will remain closed even to pedestrians and cyclists until it can be repaired, something which Atkinson says he’s heard estimated at costing around $1 million.
“Some bridges end up being closed for for years and years, and some of them are closed forever,” says Mitton. “And so this is a win.”
Preservation and repair is the next step, says Mitton. “It will need to be repaired in order to be able to support the weight of people walking across, or people cycling across.”
Mitton says she’s spoken with Minister for Tourism Heritage and Culture Isabelle Theriault, who is also responsible for active transportation. “I think there’s an opportunity to make this another way to cross the river while preserving our heritage.”
The Wheaton Covered Bridge is not a registered provincial heritage property, but only one of the province’s 56 remaining bridges is registered. “My sense is that seeking an actual official heritage status would not help in terms of us being able to repair the bridge,” says Mitton. “My understanding was that it actually can be a hindrance.”
Mitton says she’d like to see a province-wide plan for New Brunswick’s covered bridges and hopes the Wheaton Bridge might serve as an example. “Often at this point, these covered bridges are being torn down rather than preserved. And so this, this might be a model for what other communities can do.”
