Pattullo Bridge to close three weekends this summer

The Pattullo Bridge will be closed to all traffic for three weekends this summer while TransLink carries out repairs.

The closures are set for the weekends of July 20-21, Aug. 10-11 and Aug. 24-25 and run from 9 p.m. on the Friday night until 3 a.m. Monday.

The bridge will also be off limits to pedestrians and bikes.

Crews will repair sections of the concrete deck and repave parts of the 76-year-old bridge.

TransLink will also review the condition of the driving surface and make improvements as necessary.

Any heavy rain on the three weekends would extend the work to a fourth weekend on Sept. 7-8, TransLink said.

It’s the first significant full closures of the Pattullo since a fire on the wooden trestle beneath the south approach forced it to shut down for nine days in 2009.

About 58,000 vehicles use the Pattullo each day on weekends, compared to 73,000 on weekdays. Those numbers are up about four per cent since tolls went on the Port Mann Bridge and the Pattullo became the nearest free crossing of the Fraser River.

The current work does not include a planned $150-million seismic upgrade for the Pattullo that TransLink intends to carry out regardless of what option is chosen to eventually replace the bridge.