The Pitt River Bridge is a

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern ...

that spans the

Pitt River The Pitt River in British Columbia, Canada is a large tributary of the Fraser River, entering it a few miles upstream from New Westminster and about 25 km ESE of Downtown Vancouver. The river, which begins in the Garibaldi Ranges of the ...

between Port Coquitlam and

Pitt Meadows Pitt Meadows is a municipality of Metro Vancouver in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Incorporated in 1914, it has a land area of and a population of 19,146 as of 2021. The municipality received its name from the Pitt River and Pitt Lake ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

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 to ...

. The bridge is part of Highway 7, carrying Lougheed Highway across the river. The current bridge opened on October 4, 2009. The bridge includes a 380 m cable stay bridge structure, 126 m of multi-span approaches, a 50 m interchange structure and approximately 2 km of grade construction. Total project cost for the bridge was $200 million

Previous Bridges

Three road bridges have existed before the modern bridges' construction The first bridge was completed in 1915 and opened either on 1st or 3rd of March. It cost $800,000 (equivalent to $20,078,688.52 in 2022) Before its construction, traffic utilized a government subsidized ferry which had started its operation on 27 September 1902. The second span, a highway bridge was opened on 21 October, 1957 by Premier

W. A. C. Bennett William Andrew Cecil Bennett (September 6, 1900 – February 23, 1979) was a Canadian politician. He was the 25th premier of British Columbia from 1952 to 1972. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett was and remains the longest-serving prem ...

and cost $1,050,000 (equivalent $10,861,824.32 in 2022 dollars). The third (northern) span was built in the 1978 at cost of $2.8 million dollars (equivalent to $11,554,716.98 in 2022) and was opened on 1 August by Highways Minister Alex Fraser. It was located to the north of the 1957 bridge. The mid-swing span of the south span sometimes did not seat properly in the closed position, becoming stuck and causing very long traffic line-ups (especially before the north span was built), but this problem was fixed many years ago. The control house also operated the lane control system after the system became operational. Each of the two spans had two lanes. In 1997 a counterflow system was installed, being completed on the 10th of October. During the morning and evening commute times, the system would reverse a lane on one of the two bridges so that three lanes of traffic were operational in a single direction. In vogue with the

Massey Tunnel The George Massey Tunnel (often referred to as the Massey Tunnel) is a highway traffic tunnel in the Metro Vancouver region of southwestern British Columbia. It is located approximately south of the city centre of Vancouver, British Columb ...

's system, the system directed three lanes towards

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

in the morning from 6 AM until 8:30 AM, and likewise from 3:30 PM until 6:00 PM towards Maple Ridge.

New bridge and Mary Hill Interchange Project

The original bridges were replaced with a cable-stayed bridge and a free-flowing interchange to replace the Mary-Hill Bypass–Lougheed intersection. On October 4, 2009, four lanes of the new bridge opened to general traffic, soon expanding to three lanes for westbound traffic and four for eastbound traffic. The new span has been engineered to allow for different lane allocations in the future, including an 8th lane and possible rapid transit. It also allows for up to 16 meters of vertical clearance for marine traffic. The new bridge structure was built between the two earlier bridges, which were subsequently demolished; all demolition was completed on November 22, 201

References

{{Vancouver landmarks Cable-stayed bridges in Canada Bridges completed in 1957 Bridges completed in 2009 Bridges in Greater Vancouver Demolished buildings and structures in British Columbia Pitt Meadows Port Coquitlam Road bridges in British Columbia Swing bridges in Canada

Previous Bridges

New bridge and Mary Hill Interchange Project

See also

References