Fort Simpson (Jan 19/07) - Only a few more federal approvals and perfect conditions are needed for the launch of the new Martin River bridge.

Motorists on Highway 1 between Fort Simpson and Wrigley can already see the new bridge sitting on the bank beside its existing counterpart.

The two sections of the bridge have been assembled, the piles are in and the pile caps are ready, said Kevin McLeod, director of highways for the department of Transportation.

The department has set the end of January as its target date for moving the bridge, but McLeod said they are in no rush. They're waiting for perfect conditions.

"It's a very expensive structure so we want to make sure it's very safe," he said.

The project's deadline is the end of March, at which point the fiscal year will end and the snow and frozen earth will start to melt, said McLeod.

The $1.2 million bridge project was designed to make that section of the road safer and more efficient, said McLeod.

There has been an increase in both car and truck traffic. In the past few years there have also been a number of accidents at the bridge including one where a truck and two passengers crashed into the river.

The new bridge is 66 metres, approximately 20 metres longer than the old one, and is also 1.5 metres wider. Better ramps on either side of the bridge will be built so that traffic will approach the span straighter, and motorists on the bridge will have better lines of sight, said McLeod.

To move the bridge into place, Rowe's Construction, the company that was awarded the contract for the bridge installation, filled a space between the banks of the river with snow to create a surface to move the bridge across.

The department of Transportation had to get approval to put snow in the river, said McLeod. The snow, which was gathered from either side of the road, had to be free of debris including twigs and stones. The snow will later be removed.

To launch the bridge, a large crane will be used to pick up one end of the structure at a time and place it on a special roller system that looks like a very large flatbed trailer, said McLeod.

The bridge will then be rolled across the snowfill and the crane will lift it off the roller system and onto its pilings.

The whole process is delicate and will take several days, he said.

"It's like trying to move the shuttle. It moves inch by inch," said McLeod.

As soon as the new bridge is in place, the old bridge will be removed by the crane. It will be refurbished for use at another location.

Moving the existing bridge and installing it in a new location will be the first operation of its size in the Northwest Territories, said Peter Praetzel, a project officer with the department of Transportation, during an information session last summer.

Portable bridges have been moved for years along the Mackenzie winter road between Wrigley and Colville Lake, but this will be the first time a bridge this large has been re-used, Praetzel said.