Council connects east and west Niverville by building a $35,000 bridge

The town of Niverville continues to see huge growth, with more residential and commercial buildings coming up every week on both sides of the tracks. And so, in order to encourage residents to get out and explore their town Council recently approved designing, building, and placing a 45ft long metal pedestrian bridge over a swale near the railroad tracks to the tune of $35,000.   

Mayor Myron Dyck says, there is already a sidewalk along Drover’s Run that ends well before the tracks on the west side. 

“And so, this bridge is going to be placed on the south side of Hwy 311, there's a drainage swale there so, it won’t be going over the tracks. It's going up to the tracks and it’s going to flow right into the sidewalk.” 

Dyck says one of the reasons for the pedestrian bridge is to encourage residents to embrace a more active lifestyle, by making either side of the train tracks more accessible for individuals who want to walk or cycle. However, because of the swale, this isn’t safely possible so with the bridge in place, “You won't have to go through a drainage ditch. On the other hand, we could fill it in (the swale) with dirt and put in a culvert. So, we’re like, ‘Why don't we do a bridge?'

South-side of Hwy 311 sidewalk heading west through Niverville

The bridge was built by Fusion Industries of Niverville and will be put in place as soon as milder weather allows for machines to start construction of the base of the bridge and build the sidewalk access on the east side of the tracks to Station Road as well as on the west side to connect to the TransCanada / Crow Wing Trail.

Dyck says, because the bridge is metal, Fusion Industries has been able to laser the town’s logo into the railings.   

“We just thought that if we had an opportunity to do it why not? We have a local manufacturer, and we needed a bridge, so it works, plus beautification for the community as well. The bonus is that it will aid in encouraging active living for walking transportation networks.”

Design drawing of the new Niverville pedestrian bridge

Fusion Industries of Niverville was called on about three years ago to help beautify the town with their 64-foot-long heritage wall, which was placed on the Niverville Credit Union parking lot.