Temporary Pedestrian Bridge in Place for Regatta

The Royal St. John’s Regatta is one of the highlights of every summer season in St. John’s as crews hit the water at Quidi Vidi Lake in the oldest continuing sporting event in North America.

The Regatta also draws approximately 50,000 residents to Quidi Vidi Lake each summer to take in the races and all of the festivities that accompany the event.

Over the past few years the City of St. John’s has been implementing its flood mitigation plan for the Quidi Vidi Lake area to protect local residents and businesses. The final stage of this plan was to replace the bridge on Carnell Drive at a cost of approximately $2.3 million. The federal government (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) has very strict regulations in place as to when construction work over waterways can take place and unfortunately to ensure the bridge was completed before winter the City had to begin work before Regatta began.

“Our preference of course would have been to complete the work on this bridge before Regatta or start it after, however with our short construction season there was no way around having the Carnell Drive bridge out of commission for Regatta given the DFO regulations we must adhere to,” says Ward 1 Councillor Danny Breen, who also sits on the Royal St. John’s Regatta Committee. “The current pedestrian bridge has been maintained because Quidi Vidi Lake is also a very popular walking trail during the summer. A temporary pedestrian bridge that is 20-feet wide and can accommodate a much larger flow of pedestrians will be installed before Regatta to allow pedestrians to cross from one side of the lake to another. After Regatta is completed we will dismantle the temporary bridge to allow us to continue our construction work.”

The City of St. John’s has been working with the Regatta Committee throughout the summer to ensure their concerns were addressed.

“The Regatta Committee appreciates the concern that many spectators may have that the construction will cause an inconvenience on Regatta Day," says Royal St. John’s Regatta Committee President Don Kelly. "Rest assured that the City of St. John’s has made all the necessary arrangements and the 20-feet wide pedestrian bridge will be more than adequate for mobility while viewing races and visiting concessionaires.”

More information regarding all of the Regatta Day road closures can be found on the City of St. John’s website.

 
For further information:
Jennifer Mills
Communications Officer
City of St. John's
Phone: (709) 570-2037
Cell: (709) 690-7586
E-mail: jmills@stjohns.ca

Danny Breen
Ward 1 Councillor
City of St. John’s
Phone: (709) 576-2332
Cell: (709) 687-9513
E-mail: dbreen@stjohns.ca