Prince Rupert Mayor Jack Mussallem wants the city to begin preparing before a major bridge failure on the east side.

Repairs to the bridge on 6th Ave. East were delayed to March because the specialists needed to work on the wood trestle bridges were not immediately available during the summer months, and Mayor Mussallem said the city needs to prepare a back-up plan.

“These bridges we have, there is a bit of a novelty to them and we are written up in engineering magazines about the lengths the city goes through and the amount of expertise needed to save them so we can continue to use them. I’m wondering if it is worth having a report done on the land behind the Petro Canada gas station, which also borders Hays Creek, and look at putting a road there so we would have a new road on that side of Hays Creek and have Drydock Road on the other side of the creek,” he said in a comment to city manager Robert Long.

“If you talk to the engineering department, we may be getting close on the life of that bridge. As this bridge gets worse, it is very expensive to replace, we would have an alternative that would be an all-weather road. It may be worth considering.”

The wooden bridge is the main access to many streets that run off of 6th Ave. East. The city’s other wooden bridge, on 2nd Ave. West, is another major access point to the Atlin/Graham area.