The Louise Bridge crosses the
Bow River
The headwaters of the Bow River in Alberta, Canada, start at the Bow Glacier and Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, Canadian Rocky Mountains. The glacial stream that feeds Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake ...
in
Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
,
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
.
The bridge connects
Downtown West End with
Memorial Drive and
Kensington
Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
. It is configured with
reversible lane
A reversible lane, also known as variable lane, dynamic lane, and tidal flow, is a managed lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, b ...
s to accommodate higher traffic into
Downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...
during the early morning hours, and higher outbound traffic during the afternoon commute.
History
The bridge was built in 1921 and originally it carried street car and pedestrian traffic. It was named after Louise Cushing, daughter of
William Henry Cushing
William Henry Cushing (August 21, 1852 – January 25, 1934) was a Canadian politician. Born in Ontario, he migrated west as a young adult where he started a successful lumber company and later became Alberta's first Minister of Public Works an ...
, Calgary mayor from 1900 to 1901.
The bridge was rehabilitated in 1995, with a design conceived by Simpson Roberts Wappel, at a cost of
$5.1 million.
[ ]
Design
The bridge is a reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...
structure built on five wall arched spans. It has a length of , with each span measuring .
See also
*List of bridges in Calgary
The City of Calgary has a number of bridges, spanning the two main rivers that cross the city, Bow River and Elbow River, as well as some other geographical and physical features.
The first building in Calgary was erected in 1872 by Alexis Cardin ...
*List of bridges in Canada
This is a list of bridges and viaducts in Canada, including those for pedestrians and vehicular traffic.
Historical and architectural interest bridges
There are only a few covered bridges left in Canada. In Quebec, despite over 1,200 existing ...
Sources
Road bridges in Alberta
Bridges in Calgary
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