Demolition of Frederick Street Bridge begins

The Fredrick Street Bridge in Kitchener is coming down as part of the province’s plan to build a new Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph.

Starting Dec. 1, Frederick Street between Ann Street and Edna Street will be fully closed until approximately November 2026.

There is also expected to be long-term single lane closures on Highway 7/85 southbound and northbound collector lanes during this time.

“This for sure will feel annoying for the next year. But in the long term, it will really serve us well,” said Kitchener City Councillor Stephanie Stretch.

Full highway closure

Demolition of the bridge will take place on Dec. 6 and Dec. 7.

Highway 7/85 will be fully closed at Ottawa Street in the northbound direction and Wellington Street in the southbound direction.

There will no access to Highway 7/85 from Ottawa Street, Wellington Street, Edna Street and Bruce Street while crews work. There will also be no detours. Drivers are asked to plan for an alternate route.

Closure times are as follows:

All Highway 7/85 northbound and southbound lanes will be closed starting at 10:00 p.m. on Dec. 6

Northbound collector lanes will be re-opened by noon on Dec. 7

• The northbound and southbound express lanes, as well as the southbound collector lanes, will re-opened by 6:00 p.m. on Dec. 7.
• The demolition and closure is not surprising to neighbouring businesses.

“We knew this was coming,” said Henry Walser, the owner of Henry Walser Funeral Home. “We’ve had good communication with [the City of Kitchener], and we hope to continue that with the folks at the [Ministry of Transportation].”

The funeral home has already been in touch with families to make sure they are aware of the closure and prepared to find another route.

“It’s about a two or three minute detour,” Walser said.

The City of Kitchener, Region of Waterloo and the provincial government have all said the expansion is worth the year-long work and highway closure.

“I know that there’s about 17,000 people that commute from Kitchener to Guelph, and Guelph to Kitchener, every day,” said Stretch. “We need to really open up that corridor.”

The Highway 7 expansion was first promised more than three decades ago.

Finally, in October, Minister of Transportation, Prabmeet Sarkaria, announced a permit had been obtained from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, allowing the project to move forward. He called that “a huge milestone.”