The demolition of Baxter Bridge has begun as nearby residents lament that their calls to save the historic North Okanagan structure won't be answered.
Greg Robinson, who for 50 years has lived near the bridge that crosses the Shuswap River on Trinity Valley Road east of Enderby, confirmed to The Morning Star that demolition work began on Wednesday, June 25.
Cranes and excavators could be seen dismantling the bridge, a tough site for the community members who have been trying to save the bridge for months after the Ministry of Transportation and Transit said it would be demolished once a new bridge had been completed beside it.
Robinson represents a Facebook group of more than 800 members that was formed to call for the one-lane wooden truss Baxter Bridge to be kept as a pedestrian crossing.
The ministry has held to its position that Baxter Bridge is unsafe and preserving it would be a liability for the government, and would also require costly maintenance.
A video shared to the private Save the Baxter Bridge Facebook group shows an excavator razing a portion of the bridge.
Residents have formed at Baxter Bridge in recent months 鈥� peaceful demonstrations calling for the bridge to be saved. There appear to have been no efforts by protesters to disrupt demolition work.
The ministry was tight-lipped about when exactly the demolition would take place, but residents saw the writing on the wall when cranes were brought to the site late last month.
Baxter Bridge has been in the community for 75 years. It's been replaced by a two-lane steel and concrete bridge following the ministry's assessment that Baxter Bridge's lifespan as a load-bearing bridge has expired.
