The long-awaited new Catherine Street pedestrian bridge over the Moira River in downtown Belleville will get started this year, but not before summer is well underway.

The old bridge was shut down a few years ago due to rapid deterioration.

The city has now been given the go-ahead by Fisheries and Oceans to get into the water and begin work on the $3.7 million new bridge.

Senior Project Manager with the city, Barry Simpson, tells Quinte News it won’t begin until July, after spawning season.

Meanwhile there’s clean-up work on catch basins nearby.

https://media.socastsrm.com/wordpress/wp-content/blogs.dir/1977/files/2020/02/PED-BRIDGE-1.mp3 The new bridge will be much wider and accommodate higher volumes of pedestrian and cyclist traffic, with better lighting.

Simpson says the call for construction tenders will probably occur in May.