Prince Albert pushes for second bridge

The City of Prince Albert is pushing for a second bridge and asking people in the city where they would like to see it built.

An open house was held Tuesday where people had the chance to examine a study put together by a consulting firm on the bridge.

The study was initiated early this year and was paid for by the province, city and two local rural municipalities.

Mayor Jim Scarrow said a new bridge is necessary since the current bridge is old and could break again.

"That's not fear mongering," said Scarrow. "That's just a fact of life. This is an old bridge. The idea now is to preserve it the best we can, and have a timeline moving towards a second bridge."

Traffic was restricted for several months for safety reasons after a crack was found in one of the girders of the Diefenbaker Bridge last summer. Safety weight restrictions have slowed down traffic and sometimes caused long delays.

Currently the bridge is the only way vehicles can get across the North Saskatchewan River in the city.