High- and Two Low-Level Bridges over North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, AB

1913 High-Level Bridge: (Satellite) 

New Low-Level Bridge: (Satellite) Dudley B Menzies Bridge

1900 Low-Level Bridge: (Satellite, 152 photos)

The High Level Bridge with the New Low Level Bridge in the background.

Street View, May 2023

 

The south approach to the High-Level Bridge is a non-trivial trestle because this bridge is bluff-to-bluff.

Street View, May 2022

The new bridge has a non-vehicle deck suspended from the track deck. This deck would be easier to access than the deck on the High-Level Bridge. The upper deck looks like light rail, and it tunnels into the bluffs on both sides.

Trail View, Aug 2016

 

It looks like the new bridge is a concrete box girder bridge.

Street View, Oct 2016

 

Tanweer Malik posted four photos with the comment: "Dudley Menzies Bridge over the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, Canada. The single-column lollypop-shaped piers have openings through which the blue pedestrian deck passes. The top of the pier supports a large box girder that carries light rail transit. The pedestrian deck also hangs down from the soffit of the box girder."

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The High-Level Bridge has a lower deck for vehicles and pedestrians.

Street View, Apr 2021

 

Steven J. Brown posted
VIA Rail Canadian #1 crosses the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, Alberta - March 2, 1998.
Stan McFaull: Clover Bar trestle,built in 1910.I actually have a picture when it was being built in my wallet,cut it out of a magazine.
Steven J. Brown shared

Tanweer Malik posted four photos with the comment:

The High Level Bridge over the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, Canada. Constructed in 1913, this large truss bridge has two decks. The lower deck is for vehicles and pedestrians. The upper deck used to carry railways, now it is used for sightseeing trams.

The steel members have the stamp of Dorman Long and Co, Middlesborough – the famous UK steel producer that also constructed the Sidney Harbour Bridge (Source: Wikipedia)

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The 1900 Low-Level Bridge.

Boat View, Jul 2023

Note all of the utilities that are between the trusses.

Street View, Jul 2023

Jeff Wallace Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 

Waiting for Night

Long exposure along the shores of the North Saskatchewan River, once the super highway of trappers and explorers as they opened the west.

Both the 1913 Bridge and New Bridge appear to be light rail bridges. I checked that out when I noticed this photo looked like a streetcar bridge.

Bridges Now and Then posted
The High Level Bridge, Edmonton, Alberta, 1913. (Photo found on eBay)
Brian Geidt: Granny Joyce could remember a flood when they parked trains on the trestle to hold it in place, the water was at the level of the tracks
Mark Kirwin: Brian Geidt That happened. It was on the Low Level bridge though.
 https://edmonton.skyrisecities.com/news/2016/12/1915-flood-and-rescue-low-level-bridge.24067

skyrise, image via City of Edmonton Archives
The Low-Level Bridge was the first bridge built across the river. It was opened in 1900 and the High-Level Bridge was opened in 1913. The southern span of the Low-Level Bridge was opened in 1948. The railroad track on the 1900 span was removed in 1954. "On June 28, 1915, the city of 60,000 people was hit with heavy spring runoff and several days of rain, causing the North Saskatchewan River to rise more than 10 metres [66']....The Canadian Northern Railway parked multiple train cars loaded with sand on the bridge to weigh it down, preventing the dislodging of the bridge deck. Powerful engines on each side were ready to pull the cars off the bridge at a moment's notice if the structure began to destabilize."