The Low Level Bridge spans the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Alberta, Canada. The bridge connects the communities of Cloverdale on the south end to Rossdale/Downtown on the north end.

History

Completed in 1900, the Low Level Bridge was the first bridge across the North Saskatchewan River. It was designed to carry a railway, and a railway track was added in 1902 to accommodate the Edmonton, Yukon and Pacific Railway (amalgamated with the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...

in 1905). It was originally known simply as the Edmonton Bridge or the Inter-Urban Bridge (connecting the towns of Strathcona and Edmonton) until it became known as the Low Level Bridge some time after the completion of the

High Level Bridge High Level Bridge may refer to: * Detroit–Superior High Level Bridge, road and former tramway bridge over the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. * High Level Bridge, River Tyne, road and railway bridge between Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead ...

. The bridge was in danger of overturn during the North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915. The floodwater peaked just below the level of the bridge deck itself, with flood-carried debris piling along its length. A train was parked on the bridge to help hold it in place. The peak level was estimated to be about above low water level.Edmonton Bulletin, June 30, 1915

Streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

s used the bridge (on a

gauntlet track Gauntlet track or interlaced track, also gantlet track () is an arrangement in which Rail tracks, railway tracks run parallel on a single track bed and are interlaced (i.e., overlapped) in such a way that only one pair of rails can be used at any ...

) from 1908 to 1939.

Trolley bus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es of the Edmonton trolley bus system used the bridge from the removal of the streetcar track in 1939 until 1965. In 1948 a twin span of the same design was added upstream of the original span. The new span was originally used for vehicle traffic in both directions, with the original span being reserved for railway use. When the railway track was removed from the original span in 1954, that bridge was widened and then used for two lanes of west-bound traffic. The 1948 bridge has carried all east-bound traffic since the widening of the original span.

References

External links

* Bridges in Edmonton Road bridges in Alberta Bridges completed in 1900 Bridges completed in 1948 Tourist attractions in Edmonton Railway bridges in Alberta {{Canada-bridge-struct-stub

History

See also

References

External links