With repairs planned for both the road surface and the underlying structure, lane closures on the Diefenbaker bridge are to be expected for July and August.

On Monday, city manager Robert Cotterill gave city council an update about the repairs to the bridge and laid out the proposed schedule for various repairs on and under the bridge.

“We have bridge work, deck work that has to be done first, the walkway, hand rail and anchor repairs, concrete patching some expansion joint work that has to occur … at the same time we’ll be doing work underneath the bridge,” he said.

Cotterill said the closures would take place between July 22 – Aug. 22 and would be at any given time two lanes closed at a time.

“So for the summer months we might as well say we’ll be operating with two lanes not four,” he said.

Mayor Jim Scarrow said he was disappointed that the closures would have to take place at the peak time for both commercial and vacation traffic.

“It’s going be an issue that we don’t want to forget in our campaign for a second bridge,” he said. “This is clearly an illustration for how vulnerable we are.”

Meanwhile, SaskEnergy has almost completed its work rerouting a gas line onto the western walk away.

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