The Louise Bridge crosses the
Bow River
The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These w ...
in
Calgary,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
The bridge connects
Downtown West End with
Memorial Drive and
Kensington. It is configured with
reversible lane
A reversible lane (British English: tidal flow) is a lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, by having overhead traffic lights and li ...
s to accommodate higher traffic into
Downtown during the early morning hours, and higher outbound traffic during the afternoon commute.
History
The bridge was built in 1921 and originally it carried street car and pedestrian traffic. It was named after Louise Cushing, daughter of
William Henry Cushing
William Henry Cushing (August 21, 1852 – January 25, 1934) was a Canadian politician. Born in Ontario, he migrated west as a young adult where he started a successful lumber company and later became Alberta's first Minister of Public Works and ...
, Calgary mayor from 1900 to 1901.
The bridge was rehabilitated in 1995, with a design conceived by Simpson Roberts Wappel, at a cost of
$5.1 million.
[ It carries a daily traffic of 26,000 vehicles.]
Design
The bridge is a reinforced concrete structure built on five wall arched spans. It has a length of , with each span measuring .
See also
*List of bridges in Calgary
The City of Calgary has a number of bridges, spanning the two main rivers that cross the city, Bow River and Elbow River, as well as some other geographical and physical features.
The first building in Calgary was erected in 1872 by Alexis Cardi ...
*List of bridges in Canada
This is a list of bridges and viaducts in Canada, including those for pedestrians and vehicular traffic.
Historical and architectural interest bridges
There are only a few covered bridges left in Canada compared to all those that were built in t ...
Sources
Road bridges in Alberta
Bridges in Calgary
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