A noisy bridge forced OC Transpo to abandon the Transitway tour in Westboro and instead route buses along Richmond Road Thursday.
The temporary Bailey Bridge, located at the northern end of Roosevelt Avenue along Scott Street, was to carry bus traffic from Westboro to Dominion stations during the construction of Stage 2 LRT. Open on Sunday morning.
In a blog post Thursday morning, Coun. Jeff Leiper said he was on the first bus to cross the bridge and immediately noticed “considerable noise … especially when [buses] cross the edge separating the section of the bridge from the roadway. “
Leiper told the CBC that for people living near the bridge, the noise is unacceptable.
It’s like thundering right outside your window 24/7- Coun. Jeff Leiper
“For these residents here, it’s like having thunder right outside your window, 24/7. At rush hour, when hundreds of buses go by in an hour, it’s a cacophony of very jarring sound,” Leiper said, pointing to nearby homes on Workman, Winston and Roosevelt avenues.
He said that although the bypass has been discussed for years and a sound barrier has been installed along the bridge, this particular concern is a surprise.
“We expected things like engine noise, brake noise and exhaust noise,” he said. “I’m not sure who, if anyone, expected the sound of wheels hitting a steel lip.”
Leiper said there is also a rumble as the buses pass over the bridge.
By late Thursday afternoon, buses had resumed crossing the bridge, but Leiper said efforts to deal with the noise appeared to be insufficient.
The temporary Bailey Bridge creates a shocking noise when buses cross it, according to the municipal councilor. (Jen Bird / CBC)
“remind me of a bomb”
People living near the temporary bridge confirmed that the noise, which started on Sunday morning, was jarring.
“At first I thought it was thunder,” said Joan Michels, who has lived nearby for 31 years. “I had closed all my windows because it was so hot earlier in the week, and when I opened them I thought, oh no, it’s that bridge.”
Khalil Merhi, who has lived nearby for nine years, said he and his wife had to move bedrooms to escape the “unbearable” noise.
“I used to live in Beruit so it reminded me of a bomb, like boom! It was just like, what the hell?” Merhi said. “I think the bus driver, if he lived here, they’d be complaining about the driving.”
Leiper said he contacted the LRT crew “to alert them to the very jarring noise that is being produced,” and said his office has remained “in frequent contact” over the past few days. CBC News has asked the city for more information about the bridge, but has yet to hear back.
“The neighborhood cannot be asked to tolerate this for the several years that construction will take, and I fully support the decision to implement a bridge variance,” he wrote in his blog post.
The decision to divert the buses was made on Wednesday night, Leper said.
The duration of the deviation is unknown
It is not known how long the bypass will last, or what solutions are available, Leper said.
“It will probably be a few days before I can start announcing answers. In the meantime, however, the neighboring neighbors will be able to sleep.”
For now, buses west will turn from Scott to Churchill Avenue, then to Richmond. Buses to the east will do the opposite.
“We will only know what the effect of adding buses back into the mix will be,” Leiper wrote. “Based on my observations on Wednesday afternoon, the lunchtime peak hour traffic is now moving well and I hope the effect of adding buses staggered from the Churchill light will not have a major impact, but time will tell.”
As the bypass will bypass Dominion Station, Leiper has asked OC Transpo to maintain some services in Richmond and Roosevelt.
The west extension of Scott Street is now closed on Churchill Avenue. (Jen Bird / CBC)
Quick “critical” adjustment
Leiper said for both local residents and OC Transpo passengers who now face detours while traveling through his ward, it’s critical that a solution be found soon.
“At this point, I don’t know what the timelines are, and that’s obviously one of my most pressing issues,” he said.
Leper warned that bus rerouting “would not be sustainable for the duration of the LRT” and said it was “critical” that the bridge problem be resolved as soon as possible.
“I think this is probably solvable with an engineering solution, but it will take some time. I was very hopeful at the beginning of the week that they might be able to fix it quickly. I’m so glad that when OC Transpo found out the fix was in they weren’t going to rush to shut it down, they bypassed the buses.”
Merhi said he and his neighbors are willing to put up with construction and disruption for a few years, but not the noise.
“I don’t mind if they fix the noise,” he said. “Fix it. Easy as that.’
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