Crowchild Trail pedestrian bridge reopening delayed several months
'We are all in the same boat in wanting to get this bridge reopened,' project engineer says
The City of Calgary says unexpected delays are pushing back the reopening of a popular pedestrian bridge underneath Crowchild Trail.
The span over the Bow River was closed in November to allow workers access to the roadway above it for the major widening project on the often-bottlenecked route that got underway last fall.
The original plan was for the pedestrian bridge to reopen this spring.
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But Jeff Baird, the project's senior transportation engineer, says a harsh winter has pushed back the schedule.
"We fully understand the importance of this bridge. I mean, most people working on site have used it or would like to use it again as well. So we are all in the same boat in wanting to get this bridge reopened," he said.
"We know that this is a critical bridge in the pathway system. We just can't open it up until it's safe for our crews and the pathway users that would be crossing it."
The delay is frustrating for joggers and cyclists like Dennis Holder.
"It just makes it easier because then you don't have to bike up a couple of hills," he said.
The $87-million project to widen and modernize Crowchild Trail where it crosses the river is slated for completion in the fall of 2019.
Work currently underway includes:
- Adding a northbound and southbound traffic lane on Crowchild Trail between Memorial Drive and Bow Trail (an estimated two-year job).
- Completing life-cycle maintenance and rehabilitation on the bridges over Memorial Drive, the Bow River and Bow Trail (an estimated two-year job).
- Moving the on-ramps that lead from westbound Bow Trail/10th Avenue S.W. onto northbound Crowchild Trail to the east side of Crowchild (an estimated one-year job).
- The addition of a northbound lane between Memorial Drive and Fifth Avenue N.W. and repositioning the off-ramp from northbound Crowchild to eastbound Memorial.
Related work is also planned farther to the north, including noise walls along Crowchild near 16th Avenue N.W. and a new ramp to connect westbound 16th Avenue with northbound Crowchild.
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With files from CBC's Colleen Underwood