Kelowna

If you have a use for a portion of the Okanagan Lake Floating Bridge, SNC- Lavalin wants to hear from you.

SNC-Lavalin is the company in charge of building the new William Bennett Bridge and the subsequent dismantling of the current bridge.

Bridge Project Manager, Tom Tasaka, says disposal of the pontoons poses the greatest challenge at the moment.

"Because I have a contract to dispose of them within a year of opening the new bridge I have to have a level of comfort that the ideas people come up with are do-able," says Tasaka.

He says there has been some interest from a number of Okanagan communities, including Kelowna and Penticton, along with some private companies.

"There is a lot of talk right now, but nobody has approached me officially."

Tasaka says he would like to see the pontoons recycled for breakwaters or other waterfront development applications.

"A lot of these things can only be used in the lake because they're just too heavy to move."

Each of the 12 pontoons weighs an average of 3,000 to 4,000 tons.

Tasaka says once the new bridge is in place, the de-commissioning of the current structure will begin.

He says the dismantling will start on the west side in an engineered logical manner.

"The steel span on the west end comes out first. We'll float a barge underneath it, jack the bridge up onto the barge and float it out. Once that is removed, the new channel will be in operation."

Meantime, Ministry of Transportation Project Director, Jon Buckle, says anyone taking possession of one or more of the pontoons will have to ensure there is no environmental impact.

"The Department of Fisheries and Oceans will be very concerned about what happens to these pontoons and will be explicit as to what is acceptable and what is not. Anything that will adversely affect the environment from their perspective will probably not be allowed," says Buckle.

He says the Department of Fisheries was in favour of sinking all 12 pontoons into the deepest part of the lake where the environment is pretty inert.

Buckle says sinking some of the pontoons is still very much an option.

The new bridge is scheduled to open in the summer of 2008.

Tasaka says construction remains on-schedule.

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