The City of Nelson has announced it will dismantle the Gyro Park pool bridge due to failing structural integrity.

Charlie Henderson, the city’s director of operations, said work began Wednesday on the bridge’s demolition after an engineering report last year concluded it was at the end of its life.

“Where we’re seeing is the failures are the underside of the bridge where concrete is actually falling down. It’s a real safety concern.”

Henderson said repairing the bridge would cost more than replacing it. Staff are currently considering replacement options that will eventually be presented to city council.

The removal of the bridge, he said, should be done before the infant pool typically opens in July. The work doesn’t impact use of the main pool.

It’s not clear yet if there will even be swimming at Gyro Park, which has not been opened to the public since 2019. The city-run facility was closed by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, then shut down again due to a lack of available life guards.

@tyler_harper | tyler.harper@nelsonstar.com

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