No trucks on the trestle: Bishop's Falls worried about damage, injuries

The Bishop's Falls trestle is no place for cars and trucks, and the town council is telling drivers to back off.

The original trestle was built in 1901 and remains as the town's main tourist attraction. While it was used by trains back in the day, now it's only for pedestrians and ATVs or snowmobiles.

But that's not what's happening.

"A lot of people have been using it for a great deal more," said Bob Hobbs, mayor of Bishop's Falls.

What's the purpose if these trucks and heavy equipment are just going to destroy it?- Bob Hobbs

"Trucks, heavy equipment and so on and it's done a lot of damage to the base here."

The walkway is made up of wood planks that aren't built to withstand the wear and tear of larger vehicles. Some small repairs have already been done to fill in missing and broken planks on the bridge, but more needs to be done.

The bridge is a part of the Newfoundland T'Railway, so it's up to the trail council and province to fix it. It'll cost $100,000 for all of the repairs.

"The T'Railway is looking at it and saying for us to do the amount of work that needs to be done to fix it up," said Hobbs. "What's the purpose if these trucks and heavy equipment are just going to destroy it?"

Used as a short cut

Hobbs said some of the drivers who are using the trestle are the people who've built houses on the other side of the Exploits River or are going over for wood.

There is a road that connects this area to the Bay D'Espoir highway and then to the TCH. However, it's faster for them to get to town if they use the trestle.

"These people are causing trouble and causing damage to the trail and eventually the [T'railway Council] isn't going to be able to maintain it."

The town has set up meetings with both its local MHA and the T'Railway Council to find a solution. One possible fix could be to put in barriers that would limit the size of vehicle that could cross the bridge. Hobbs said putting up a sign just didn't work.

"The T'Railway, when they were here in October, put up a sign saying, 'No trucks, no equipment allowed on the trestle,' and somebody cut it down within a day," said Hobbs.

Hobbs said the T'Railway is committed to finding the money to fix the bridge, but the town also wants to make sure all that money and hard work doesn't go to waste. Hobbs said the worry is that if there's more damage, not only is the bridge at risk, but someone could get hurt.

"You could very very easily do damage to your feet, to your legs. A small youngster could have gone through. It certainly wasn't safe and they can't continue to keep this up."