City Government

All I Want for Christmas is My Dawson Bridge

December 17, 2010

Rehabilitated structure re-opens

At 6am Monday, December 20, the Dawson Bridge will re-open to motorists, pedestrians and cyclists as the City of Edmonton winds up its rehabilitation of the 97 year-old structure.

“The rehabilitation of a bridge that is almost a century old posed some unique challenges, but closing it to traffic over the past year allowed us to accomplish a great deal,” says Allan Bartman, General Supervisor, Special Projects Section of the Capital Construction Department. “The work we’ve done means that the Dawson Bridge will continue to provide safe access to and from the downtown area for another 50 years.”

Bridge repairs included:

Replacement of the concrete deck with a new lightweight deck.
Replacement of old-style rivets with modern, high-strength bolts.
Repair or replacement of worn truss components.
Construction of a new widened wooden sidewalks.
Completely new paint job on the entire bridge.

Work on the south sidewalk will continue through December and January, and some paving work will need to be finished on the approaches on Rowland Road in the spring.

Edmonton Transit Routes 1, 88, 721, 764, and 830 will return to regular routing at the start of the ETS service day on Monday, December 20. Route 308 in Riverdale will continue to operate on the expanded detour schedule on Sunday, December 19 and Monday, December 20. It will return to its regular peak hour weekday schedule on Tuesday, December 21.

“With traffic volumes of 16,000 vehicles per day, the Dawson Bridge is an important river crossing in Edmonton,” says Bartman. “We thank local residents and commuters for their patience during construction.”

For more information:

Laura McNabb

Title	Communications
Telephone	780-496-2812 780-996-6298 (cell)