Saint John Harbour Bridge repairs in limbo

For the second time this year, the group that runs the Saint John Harbour Bridge has been turned down for a bank loan it needs to make much-needed repairs to the 40-year-old structure.

The bank turned down the Harbour Bridge Authority's latest loan application because neither the provincial nor the federal government would act as a guarantor.

After being turned down last March, the bridge authority re-applied to its bank for a $35-million loan that it planned to use to fix the bridge's crumbling deck beginning next spring.

"You kind of feel caught in the middle, but at the end of the day, that's the way it is," said Ken Anthony, the authority's general manager. "We, as an authority, are responsible for the bridge. We're going to pursue every option to try and get funding somewhere."

The bridge authority has applied to another bank for a loan, but if project tenders aren't put out for the repairs by February, Anthony said, the project could be delayed another year.

That could eventually mean lower speed limits on the bridge, he said, or even force the closure of lanes until it's fixed.

The bridge authority recently spent $17 million to fix the bridge's supporting structure.

Last year Saint John Conservative MP Rodney Weston promised to remove the bridge tolls, and that became a problem for the bridge authority because the bank said that threatened its income.

Abel LeBlanc, Liberal MLA for Saint John's west side, blames Weston for the bank's refusal to loan the money to the bridge authority without a guarantee.

"That man's head should have been shook twice because there's nothing upstairs in it. That's the way I feel about Rodney Weston," LeBlanc said Monday.

He said he will push the province to back the loan so the work can be done.

"If it's a problem in my riding, then I'll be going back to the government looking for another guaranteed loan for that bridge," Leblanc said.