The Water Avenue Bridge, officially known as Hope-Fraser Bridge or the Bill Hartley Bridge
is a highway bridge that carries the
Trans Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...
across the
Fraser river
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...
. It was built around 1916 to carry the
Kettle Valley Railroad out of the town of
Hope
Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.
As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...
to the
CPR
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...
mainline on the north side of the river.
It is a two level bridge with the highway bridge on top. The bridge had two levels, with vehicular traffic on top, and railway traffic on the lower level. The bridge is no longer used by trains, but the lower deck can be observed from the north (west) bank. The railway, which was long ago removed, ran on the lower level. If you pull off the highway on the north side, eastbound on the highway, and explore under the bridge, this can be clearly seen. The rail bed can be followed a short way west until you come to a private property. Little if anything remains to show that trains ran south and east of the bridge into town.
See also
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List of crossings of the Fraser River
This is a list of bridges, tunnels, and other crossings of the Fraser River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It includes both functional crossings and historic crossings which no longer exist, and lists them in sequence from the South ...
*
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 ...
References
Road bridges in British Columbia
Bridges on the Trans-Canada Highway
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