The Provencher Bridge () is a set of paired bridges — a four-lane vehicular bridge and a suspended

pedestrian bridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

(called

Esplanade Riel Esplanade Riel is a pedestrian bridge located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was named in honour of Louis Riel. It is a side-spar cable-stayed bridge which spans the Red River connecting downtown Winnipeg and The Forks historic area with St. Bon ...

) — across the Red River in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. The bridge links

downtown Winnipeg Downtown Winnipeg is an area of Winnipeg located near the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. It is the oldest urban area in Winnipeg, and is home to the city's commercial core, city hall, the ...

and The Forks historic area with

St. Boniface Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of the church i ...

, a Winnipeg community across the Red River. It derived its name from the connecting Boulevard Provencher (Provencher Boulevard). The vehicular bridge serves Route 57 and is a main connector from downtown Winnipeg to most of the eastern communities in Winnipeg. The speed limit on the bridge is 50 km/h (31 mph).

Bridge history

There have been a total of three bridges (aka Red River Bridges), as well as a ferry, linking

from the then-eastern end of

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

with

from the western end of

Provencher Boulevard Route 57 is a major road located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It connects the suburbs of St. James and St. Boniface with the West End and the downtown core. Route description Route 57 begins as Dublin Avenue at Route 90 in the St. James Industri ...

. The current-day Provencher Bridge succeeds the ferry and the previous two bridges.

Ferry

The first way of crossing the Red River was by the Notre Dame Street (Pioneer Avenue) ferry, linking

on the west with Provencher Blvd on the east. The ferry route was cancelled in 1882 with the opening of the Broadway Bridge. It sank on the

Assiniboine River The Assiniboine River ( ; ) is a long river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a single main channel embanked ...

later that same year.

Broadway Bridge

Prior to the construction of the first Provencher Bridge was the Broadway Bridge (also known as the St. Boniface Bridge), which spanned the Red River and linked the cities of Winnipeg and

by connecting Provencher Boulevard with

. Built by the

joint-stock A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholder ...

Assiniboine and Red River Bridge Company, a subsidiary of the Hudson Bay Company, the Broadway Bridge replaced the Notre Dame Street (Pioneer Avenue) ferry as the first bridge to link Winnipeg to St. Boniface. The Broadway Bridge was a simple iron

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as Beam (structure), beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so ...

structure, about in length, consisting of five stationary spans and one swing span. Known as a

Pratt Pratt is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: A–F * Abner Pratt (1801–1863), American diplomat, jurist, politician, and lawyer * Al Pratt (baseball) (1847–1937), American baseball player * Andy Pratt (baseball) (bor ...

Whipple Whipple may refer to: People * Whipple (surname), a list of people with the surname * Whip Jones (1909–2001), American ski industry pioneer, founder, developer and original operator of the Aspen Highlands ski area in Aspen, Colorado * Whipple Va ...

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

, the Broadway Bridge was designed by Edward Worrell Jarvis and constructed by C. W. Dean of Cleveland, Ohio. Construction of this bridge began in 1881 and was opened to traffic on April 16, 1882, as a private

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...

, . Disaster struck three days later due to ice from annual Red River

break-up A relationship breakup, breakup, or break-up is the ending of a relationship. The act is commonly termed "dumping omeone in slang when it is initiated by one partner. The term is less likely to be applied to a married couple, where a breakup ...

, wiping away two spans of the bridge. The bridge remained closed until repairs were completed one year later. In 1909, the City of St. Boniface bought the bridge for $59,000, and in 1912, city engineers recommended that a new bridge be built. Broadway Bridge remained in use until the completion of the construction of the Provencher Bridge in 1918, whereafter the Broadway Bridge was demolished.

First Provencher Bridge

In 1912, engineers of the City of St. Boniface recommended that the Broadway Bridge be replaced by a modern bridge with a refined aesthetic quality. A team of six engineers was recruited to oversee the construction project, and the cost would be split between St. Boniface (two thirds) and the City of Winnipeg (the remaining third). The new

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

, a double-leaf drawbridge designed by the

Strauss Bascule Bridge Company Joseph Baermann Strauss (January 9, 1870 – May 16, 1938) was a German-American structural engineer who revolutionized the design of bascule bridges. He was the chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. Early life ...

of Chicago, began construction in 1913 or 1914. Construction was undertaken by MacDonald & McGoogan Company and the Dominion Bridge Co. The new drawbridge along Provencher was opened in the summer of 1918, replacing the Broadway Bridge. Instead of linking with Broadway, this new bridge was oriented slightly to the north; traffic crossing from the east was sent even further north, eventually connecting with Main Street about 500 metres from Broadway.

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

began operating on the bridge on December 3, 1925. The second bridge was dismantled in 2001 for the opening of the third (current) bridge.

Current bridge

The third and current bridge consists of two paired bridges, a vehicular bridge and a pedestrian bridge (

). The City of Winnipeg decided to replace the 90-year old Provencher Bridge with a newer structure, following 2 and a half years of public consultation process. The bridge was designed by primary consultant Wardrop, and architectural design was provided by Guy Préfontaine and

Étienne Gaboury Étienne-Joseph Gaboury (April 24, 1930 – October 14, 2022) was a Canadian architect from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was noted for designing key buildings in his hometown, such as the Royal Canadian Mint building, Esplanade Riel, Saint Boniface ...

. To avoid disruptions the bridges were built in phases. The vehicular bridge was begun in 2001 and completed in 2003. The total project costs reached over $72.5 million for both bridges.

The vehicular bridge

The vehicular bridge's plan was originally designed to connect York and St. Mary Avenues to

, but it was cancelled in 1997. The lands for the St. Mary–York–Provencher connection were used for the construction of the

Canadian Museum for Human Rights The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR; ) is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation and List of national museums, national museum located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, adjacent to The Forks, Winnipeg, The Forks. The purpose of the ...

. Construction of the vehicular bridge began on July 20, 2001, and was completed two years later, in September. The vehicular bridge is slightly curved, branching off from a shared

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

on the east, unlike the old bridge which was completely straight and at a slight angle. The concrete vehicular bridge spans , and includes such features as rock-socketed, steel-jacketed concrete

caissons Caisson (French for "box") may refer to: * Caisson (engineering), a sealed underwater structure * Caisson (vehicle), a two-wheeled cart for carrying ammunition, also used in certain state and military funerals * Caisson (Asian architecture), a sp ...

constructed to high elevations which help avoid the issues of spring ice-break-ups and floods.

The pedestrian bridge

The ''

'' (named for

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis in Canada, Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of ...

), the pedestrian portion of the Provencher Bridge, is a

side-spar cable-stayed bridge A side-spar cable-stayed bridge may be an otherwise conventional cable-stayed bridge, but its cable support does ''not span the roadway'', and is instead cantilevered from one side. The Esplanade Riel illustrated is located in Winnipeg, Manitob ...

sitting parallel to the vehicular bridge. The construction of Esplanade Riel was added later to the Provencher Bridge project, in August 2002. Completed in 2003, the same year as the vehicular bridge, Esplanade Riel was officially opened in the summer of 2004. It was designed by Architects Guy Préfontaine and

, and Colin Douglas Stewart of Wardrop Engineering. The bridge is and follows the alignment of the historic Broadway Bridge. The Esplanade Riel features a restaurant in the middle of the bridge. Originally operated by Salisbury House, the restaurant space was home to ''Chez Sophie Sur Le Pont'' from summer 2013 to February 2015. The bridge's next tenant, Mon Ami Louis, opened in July 2015 as an "approachable and eschewing the haute cuisine haughtiness of French dining."

External links

Provencher bridge

References

{{reflist Road bridges in Manitoba Buildings and structures in Winnipeg Bridges completed in 2003 St. Boniface, Winnipeg Buildings and structures in downtown Winnipeg