The old and cramped Craigflower Bridge will be replaced by a sleek structure that’s twice as wide as the original.

View Royal and Saanich, which share ownership of the border-straddling bridge over the Gorge, have selected a final design and opted for a six-month construction timeline that will shut the route to vehicle traffic. A partial shutdown would have extended construction to at least 18 months.

The new bridge will have three vehicle lanes, one northbound and two southbound. Bike lanes and sidewalks will each be two metres wide.

Start date for the project is June 1, Saanich and View Royal said in a joint statement Friday.

The project includes $8 million for the bridge and $2.8 million for the approaches. A federal gas tax grant will cover $10 million, and Saanich and View Royal will cover the rest.

Replacing Craigflower Bridge is a priority because trucks are twice as heavy as when the bridge was designed. “We have inspected it and there are some cracked timbers and there are a couple of rotten piles, so we’re faced with reducing the load restrictions,” said Jim Hemstock, Saanich’s manager of transportation.

Saanich has not decided if there will be a temporary pedestrian bridge so those on foot can get across the waterway.

The contractor will co-ordinate with Fisheries and Oceans Canada over the safe removal of the old bridge, but parts of it will likely remain in place, Hemstock said.

“The bridge is 78 years old, and there are 120 creosoted piles pounded into the Gorge Waterway,” Hemstock said.

While it’s easy to pull them out, doing so may release the creosote that is soaked into the mud, he said. “What we would like to do is just break them off and leave the [buried parts] in place.”

The 18 piles for the foundation of the replacement bridge will be made from steel pipes and concrete, which can be put in place using the old bridge as a work platform, Hemstock said.

Once the piles are in place, the contractor will install girders and decking. Equipment will be moved from the old bridge to the new one and the old one will then be demolished.

The Gorge will be protected from debris by nets strung below the construction site.

Closing the bridge will force motorists, pedestrians and cyclists to find new routes over or around the Gorge. Motorists may face temporary restrictions for making turns onto side streets to find short cuts around the area, Hemstock said.

Saanich will try to minimize disruption in area neighbourhoods by motorists speeding along residential streets, he said.

“They’re very small streets, they don’t have sidewalks, and shortcutting drivers tend to speed. We’ll try to keep them on the main roads.”

A similar bridge closure over Colquitz Creek didn’t cause a lot of disruption, he said. “Things got a little jammed up for a while but people found their way.”

There’s “a real possibility” that the bridge could be opened to pedestrians and cyclists while work is concluding on the road, he said.

The design was prepared by Herold Engineering and Hughes Condon Marler Architects.

An open house is scheduled for Feb. 22 from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the View Royal Town Hall.

smcculloch@timescolonist.com

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The design can be viewed online here on the Saanich website.