Wooddale bridge construction to be completed

Workers finalize bridge improvements within the coming weeks

The+construction+on+Wooddale+Ave+S+has+been+completed+after+improvements+to+the+bridge.+According+to+senior+engineering+project+manager+Jack+Sullivan%2C+in+the+next+couple+of+years+they+plan+to+add+traffic+lights.++

Hayley Westwood

The construction on Wooddale Ave S has been completed after improvements to the bridge. According to senior engineering project manager Jack Sullivan, in the next couple of years they plan to add traffic lights.

Sophie Olmen

According to senior Amber Tran, the Wooddale bridge improvements help traffic flow better than before.

“It looks really nice and will make things go along smoother, but the stop signs are kind of annoying. I like that there are more lanes so things go by quicker,” Tran said.

Senior engineering project manager Jack Sullivan said the construction is mostly complete except for a few minor details.

“The bridge construction is substantially complete. There is just a few minor landscaping and pavement markings that need to be completed within the next week or two,” Sullivan said.

Tran said the changes will make it better but didn’t notice the bridge needing to be changed.

“I didn’t really see anything wrong with it before, but I guess it looks better,” Tran said.

According to Sullivan, the goal of updating the bridge was to make it safer and prepare for the future installation of traffic lights.

“The benefits of the construction are better biking and walking across the bridge, better sightlines for drivers approaching Wooddale Avenue fromthe Highway 7 ramps and preparing for the traffic signals that will be installed with the Southwest LRT construction,” Sullivan said.

According to Tran, the bridge gets backed up during certain times of the day and thought the new directions to go over could be confusing to some drivers..

“I avoided driving over it during peak times because it would get very backed up,” Tran said. “But other than that (I) noticed it seemed to confuse people with which lane was for turning and which was for (going) straight.”

Sullivan said the project will be wrapped up after a few more cosmetic changes.

“What is left to do, we need to put down some pavement markings,” Sullivan said. “Then some bike symbols that need to go down on the pavement and we need to do a little more work with finalizing the landscaping vegetation instillation.”