Warnings went up on the Hammond River on Thursday, letting boaters know of the hazardous beams left in the river bed after a covered bridge was demolished last year.
More than six months after the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure abandoned attempts to fix Hammond River Bridge No. 2 and tore it down instead, the remains of the beams were still ominously sticking out of the water — until a Smithtown resident spoke up.
The area is popular with paddlers, and Steven Saunders worried the unmarked beams were a danger.
"The Hammond River rises and falls quite a bit," Saunders said Wednesday. "It certainly could produce a hazard and could be an accident there."
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On Thursday, Bill Fraser, the minister of transportation and infrastructure, tweeted two pictures showing a crew installing temporary warning devices on the pilings.
Fraser said the pilings will be removed by the end of the month if conditions permit.
Our crews are out this afternoon at Hammond River Bridge installing temporary warning devices on the pilings until they are removed which we expect will happen before end of month (conditions permitting) <a href="https://twitter.com/mattybing?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mattybing</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeCameronCTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MikeCameronCTV</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/KingsCoRecord?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KingsCoRecord</a> <a href="https://t.co/rxmyS0ucTK">pic.twitter.com/rxmyS0ucTK</a>
—@billfrasermlaThe bridge in French Village was severely damaged in October 2016, when an excavator plunged through the decking during a refurbishment project.
When the province flirted with the idea of repairing the bridge, about 21 kilometres northeast of Saint John, it drove several steel beams into the river bed to act as supports.
Five other steel beams had been erected in the river bed prior to that.
Saunders said that last week there was a rainfall that quickly obscured the beams.
"If you looked hard, you could see a ripple, but they were only inches below the surface."
Saunders said that with up to 30 canoes in the river on some days, the lack of a marker could tear the bottom out of a boat. He thinks the department should, at the very least, inform the public to prevent an accident.
"There are lots of people that will throw a kayak in, or a canoe upriver, and they aren't aware of the possible hazard downstream," he said.
The department was recently fined $80,000 for skirting safety rules during the covered bridge refurbishment, which ultimately resulted in its demise.