Whoop-Up Drive traffic changes coming Friday to increase flow following bridge rehab

The City of Lethbridge is making changes to increase traffic flow along Whoop-Up Drive, starting Friday.

For those travelling westbound, the city says the zipper merge will be relocated further down the hill, to the east of the bridge.

After the bridge, the speed limit will rise from 50 kilometres per hour to 70.

Eastbound traffic will see the zipper merge also relocated to about the midway part of the bridge, along with an increase in the speed limit once you get past the closed lane.

The city says the changes are to help increase traffic flow following the completion of the bridge rehabilitation project.

“The planned work is done and now we’ve just shrunk all the detouring just to protect those two lanes that were damaged by the high load,” said Richard Brummund, City of Lethbridge road infrastructure manager.

In the coming weeks, the city is expected to provide an update on the restoration work of the bridge girders after a semi-truck hauling a piece of construction equipment hit the bottom of the bridge in early August.