Halifax’s MacKay Bridge to close for the next two weekends

The MacKay Bridge, also known as the “new” bridge, will be closed for the next two weekends for what Halifax Harbour Bridges is calling “critical maintenance.”

The closures will run from Friday Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. to Monday, Nov. 27 at 5:30 a.m., and from Friday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. to Monday, Dec. 4, at 5:30 a.m.

“There is no good time to close one of our bridges, but unfortunately more full closures are going to be necessary as the structures require an increasing amount of maintenance as they age,” said Halifax Harbour Bridges CEO Tony Wright in a news release.

The MacKay Bridge is 53 years old.

The work will involve replacing two 10,000-kilogram deck section where “cracking of steel plate has been detected in recent inspections,” the news release said.

The sections will be the eighth and ninth panels that have been replaced on the bridge since 2010.

According to the news release, the construction will need a 100-tonne crane “that takes up nearly the entire width of the bridge to remove the deteriorating section and replace it with a new section recently manufactured at Cherubini Metal Works in Dartmouth.”

After that, paving will be needed to ensure a smooth drive over the bridge.

The work is expected to impact traffic in the downtown area, where the annual Parade of Lights is happening on Saturday. Halifax Harbour Bridges said anyone planning to go to the parade should plan to arrive early and stay late.

It said work on the MacKay Bridge and the closures could change depending on the weather.