Labour disruptions postpone replacement of Hwy. 417 Booth Street bridge again

The construction machinery which will be used in the bridge replacement along the Queensway at Booth Street. (Peter Szperling/CTV News Ottawa)

The planned closure of a section of Hwy. 417 in Ottawa's west end this weekend for bridge replacement has been postponed, and labour disruptions have delayed the planned replacements of both the Booth and Rochester street bridges this summer.

Ontario's Ministry of Transportation confirms the planned closure of Highway 417 for the Booth Street bridge replacement this weekend has been postponed again.  The work, originally scheduled for last weekend and then rescheduled to July 21 to 25, continues to be delayed by a strike in the construction sector.

"The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is planning on replacing the Booth Street bridges during a future full closure of Highway 417. However, the replacements are delayed due to the ongoing labour disruptions," the MTO said in a statement. "New dates for the replacements of the Booth Street bridges are dependent on the length of the current labour disruptions."

The MTO has also confirmed that the Rochester Street Bridge replacement set for Aug. 12-14, "has also been delayed."

According to their website, LiUNA Local 527 held a ratification vote on July 13, and, "The majority of the members voted to reject the Tentative Memorandum of Agreed Changes. As such, the NCRBA strike is still ongoing and picket lines will resume July 14."

An industry observer says over 1,000 employees are on strike.

"So all your major road works, your major sewer works, that you see around the city - they’re largely affected. There are non-union companies, of course, but the bigger jobs are generally done by unionized firms, so all those big jobs are being affected," said John Devries, Ottawa Construction Association president and general manager.

"Those jobs generally get shut down, because other unions won’t do striking unions’ scope of work; because of the team nature, the crews  - they can’t go to work, so it affects that whole sector pretty well."

The ministry said the public would be informed of the new highway closure dates when they are confirmed.