Bridge the gap in Hastings

Posted Feb 2, 2012 By Charles Conn

Dear Editor,

In World War II, the R.C.E.M.E. built a lot of Bailey bridges. A short Bailey bridge could easily be built across the short gap created when the Hastings swing bridge is taken away for four months repair off site. They can be built in hours, not days or weeks, from two solid roadbeds on either side of the gap, with minimal infringement on the immediately surrounding environment.

Today's army engineers can do the work. They are already being paid. The Bailey bridge parts are already in storage.

The only new cost would be the gas to haul the parts from the nearest depot to Hastings. The engineers would probably welcome the opportunity to practise in a real-world setting.

The only challenge would be to get the deskcrats in the three bureaucracies, Defence Department, Parks Canada, Trent-Severn Waterway, to agree to this simple, sensible action in eight months!

Charles Conn Hastings