NEWS photo Mike ¥aketield

WORKMEN lay plastic on burlap covering new concrete on the middie two ianes of the Second Narrows Bridge. Those lanes
are nearly complete and will be in use Monday. The 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week schedule will continue with work start-
ing on the bsidge’s two outside northbound lanes and the east sidewalk.

BY IAN NOBLE
News Reporter

A highways ministry manager has
good news for beleaguered
Second Narrows Bridge com-
muters: work may finish more
than a week ahead of schedule.

“We could possibly be finished by the s
enth of August.” Ministry of Transportation
and Highways bridge construction manager
Rey Buettner said on Thursday during a media
tour of the work site. That estimate would slice
cight days off the anticipated Aug. 15 comple-
tion date. He added that a concrete: supplier
strike cost the project four days, but the project
remains on schedule.

Buettner said the bridge is in beter shape
than anticipated and the first phase of the three-
phase project is the most difficult. Workers
expect to complete the first phase before this
weekend, when drivers will switeh anes as the
construction zone shifis to the two eastern
Janes and the cast sidewalk.

The shift will occur in iwo stiges, Late
Saturday night, motorists travelling north will
shift near the crest of the bridge from the (wo

Second Narrows
in better shape
than anticipated

eastern lanes to the newly completed middle
lanes. On Sunday night, the middle fines wilt
open for the bridge length.

At that time, vehicle traffic gets tore good
news, while cyclists and pedestrians are hit
with the bad.

With the cast sidewalk closed for repairs.
the west sidewalk will be forced to handle all
walking and biking traffic travelling north and
south,

That calls for caution on the approximately
four-[vot-wide sidewalk, which does not have a
barrier between users and vehicle traffic.

Ministry of Transportation and Highways
spokesman Brenda Jones said cyclists pedaling
uphill have the right-of-way over those gliding
downhill. Pedestrians always have the right-of-
way, she said.

Sidewalk users will have access to the west
sidewalk through a new paved path atthe north
end of the bridge.

Project traffic management engineer Norm
Parkes said moving the construction zone to
one side should speed traffic.

“df we could get another hundred (vehicles)
per hour per lane, it would be a real visible ben-
efit,” he said.

The third phase will include rehabilitating
the two outside southbound lunes. It is sched-
uled to begin in the final week of July.

All three phases include replacement of a
two-inch concrete overlay, full depth repairs to
floor beams, repair of damaged concrete on the
bridge deck, and replacement of corroded
rebar, During the first phases. a steel median
barrier was removed, Platis call for the installa
tion of a concrete median barrier during the
final phase. ;

During the upcoming phase two of the $9-
million project, a concrete barrier and railing
will be erected to separate the east: sidewalk
from the highway, Similar work will occur tn
phase three for the west sidewalk.

Jones said a proposal to move the high-
occupancy lanes from three people to two is
still being looked at by North Shore municipal-
ities, Vancouver and the highways ministry.

Responding to when a decision may be
made, she said it’s hard te say, but added: “We
would like to see more people get out of their
single-occupancy vehicles.”

Lowering the limit witl allow more vehicles
to legally use the HOV lanes. which are
reserved for public transit. cyclists and: cars

| Weather

Saturday: Sun and clouds
High 20°C, low 12°C.

BY ANNA MARIE D’ANGELOG
News Reporter

BEARS have won the turf
war against people in
Cypress Provincial Park.

On Thursday. B.C. — Parks
announced it was closing the Cypress
Bow! area of the West Vancouver park
to all visitors for about two wecks.

The reason: visitors are getting too
close to the furry mammals for com-
fort.

“People are not realizing that bears
are quite hazardous,” said B.C. Parks
spokesman Larry Syroishko.

About six bears usually feed in the
closed area of the park each year.

The animals eat the lush vegeta-
tion, which is unavailable at higher
elevations at this time.

Syroishko said a recent photograph
of a mother bear and her cub pub-
lished in the News had likely drawn
visitors to the park on quests for their
own cute bear pics.

One of the latest incidents that
worried park rangers occurred on
Sunday. Some visitors got within three
metres (10 feet) of a mother bear and
her 7-kg (15-Ib) cub.

The sow nonchalantly chewed at
some grass as the strangers got close
to her cub. The adult bear tolerated the
intrusion into her family’s space.

But the park visitors were lucky.

See Violators page 9

& Bright Lighte.......................8
& Canada Day feature.....47
RB Crossword... ncn AD
Wi David Mitchell.....................7
@ Parks & Picnics.............43
& Talking Personals............44
® TV Listings.........................36