The new bridge structure, with the Tusket dam picture below and behind the bridge. Work on the dam will resume in the summer. BRENDA LEVY TATE/CONTRIBUTED

An excavator helps with the installation of the Hurlburt Falls Bridge at Gavelton. BRENDA LEVY TATE/CONTRIBUTED

Men and machines at work Friday, Jan. 31, installing the new Hurlburt Falls Bridge at Gavelton in Yarmouth County. BRENDA LEVY TATE/CONTRIBUTED

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YARMOUTH, N.S. —

A replacement for a bridge in Yarmouth County will be ready soon, but there’s some work to be done before it opens to the public.

The new Hurlburt Falls Bridge at Gavelton is located next to the Tusket dam, the focus of a refurbishment project being undertaken by Nova Scotia Power.

The bridge work has resulted in a detour that has been in place for months.

Late Friday, Jan. 31, Nova Scotia Power gave an update on the new bridge.

“We know everyone is eager for the bridge to re-open, but we estimate we will need two more weeks to complete the work,” a spokesperson for the project said. “We have pulled the steel superstructure across the river and now can apply the wood decking. After that there is a bit of work to grade the roads to the same level as the bridge.”

Once this work is complete, inspections will need to be done, “including those done by our project engineer, the bridge manufacturer and by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal," the spokesperson said.

“Our team is working as quickly as possible, but weather has been a factor, particularly the significant wind chill recently that means our teams have to take more breaks to warm up.”

Meanwhile, work on the dam itself will resume, as planned, in late July, allowing for the upstream migration of gaspereau (kiacks) in the spring, the Nova Scotia Power official said.