Sir: Transportation officials recently posted weight restrictions on The Parry (Keil Drive) Bridge aimed mainly at heavy trucks and transport type vehicles. The problem is I’ve noticed is that, especially for truckers new to the area, they don’t see the signs till they get to the bridge, and if your south bound, you can’t turn around.
Truckers and other heavy vehicles have to reroute either to the Prairie Siding Bridge or Prince Albert Side Road Bridge. The other three bridges in Chatham can also be used, but would be considerably slower with the urban traffic to consider.
There has been talk over the years of building another bridge across the Thames River between the Bloomfield and Bear Line at the River Road in the former Raleigh and Dover Townships. Apparently there are even plans drawn up to accommodate such a situation, if it were ever to materialize. It may be a long time though before it would happen, as the costs of construction could be huge.
Besides, the municipality still has many other bridge rebuild and reconstruction projects on going for an undetermined time length.
The need for another bridge across the Thames River depends on whether the need increases for a new bridge by that time.
Frank Doyle
Chatham
