Back in March 2022, CICK News featured an episode dedicated to the Quick Bridge.

The Quick Bridge, which was built in 1921 is currently under construction to be torn out, demolished on land, and replaced with a steel and concrete structure. The ministry of transportation and infrastructure calls this type of work “the decommissioning of a structure”. Quick is a village of under 100 people, and the community is divided by the mighty Bulkley River, so a crossing is needed to maintain the community connection (especially for some of the older residents of Quick).

Back in June of 2021 the residents of Quick were having to re-route their traffic from the north side of the Bulkley to the south by 15 kilometers. People were using two vehicles at the time to park at one end, walk across the 300 foot structure and drive their other vehicle to connect with Quick Station Road. If they couldn’t catch a ride or afford a second vehicle to leave parked, they would have to take Lawson Road, a 15 km re-route.

Then in October of 2022 when construction finally began on the bridge, it was closed to pedestrian traffic, even further inconveniencing the residents of Quick, who -- on the north and south side of the Bulkley) have no other crossing.

Greg Young, a Quick Resident said that the bridge closure "fissures the community, and takes away the neighbourly feel of this community". Quick is an "all hands on deck" type of community, so the long-running bridge closure by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure became a constant point of contention.

The process of this bridge decommissioning has been a David and Goliath story, with a sad twist at the end: David loses.

Listen to CICK News' update on the Quick Bridge, currently under construction from the perspective of three residents: Greg Young, David Gillespie and Bridget Gillespie in the link below.