While the Niska Road bridge comes down, people living near it say they’re worried about what might replace it.

Military reservists from Waterloo and St. Thomas have been working at the Guelph bridge all week, preparing to take the bridge away.

The Niska bridge is a Bailey bridge – a type of bridge used for military training during the Second World War, then donated to communities across Canada in need of bridges.

It was closed last year due to concerns about its structural stability.

On Thursday, military crews were using heavy equipment to sever the bridge from the banks of the Speed River. Saturday morning, they’ll hoist the bridge up, place it onto rollers and move it away.

“We’re taking a section of this bridge away, and we’ll be using it for training,” Capt. Charles Benyair said Thursday.

Two other sections of the bridge will be left with the city for as-of-yet-undetermined commemorative uses.

Construction of a new bridge over the river is expected to start in August and be complete by the following summer.

While the existing bridge was only wide enough for vehicles to cross it in one direction at a time, the new bridge be wider and have two lanes.

Some people who live nearby say they’re concerned about what that will mean for traffic in their neighbourhood. Prior to the bridge’s closure, Niska was a popular route for drivers looking to travel between Highway 6 and Highway 24.

“They should maintain the bridge the way it was,” Bhaju Tamot said Thursday.

“Otherwise, this’ll be just like a commuter (road).”

One of the most common concerns of people in the neighbourhood is that the bridge will be used by trucks, despite the city’s efforts to keep them away.

Tamot worries that a two-lane bridge will be even more attractive to truck drivers than the previous bridge was.

City officials say they are looking at expanding the current no-truck zone to the city limits, and plan to have that process complete by the time the new bridge opens.

According to city project engineer Ken Vanderwal, a two lane bridge will be safer for people using it, while a traffic study showed no projected increase in the number of vehicles using the bridge.

With reporting by Maleeha Sheikh