- Cambie Street Bridge
The Cambie Street Bridge is a six-lane road bridge spanning
False Creek inVancouver ,British Columbia .The Cambie bridge is the easternmost of False Creek's fixed crossings; the Burrard and Granville bridges are a little more than a kilometer to the west, and the newCanada Line SkyTrain tunnel is being built just west of the Cambie bridge.History
Accompanied by the Duchess and their daughter, "Princess Patricia", Canada’s Governor General, the Duke of Connaught, visited Vancouver to officiate at the ceremony naming the brand-new Connaught Bridge on September 20, 1912.
The name "Connaught" never caught on and everyone called it the after the street that ran on it, Cambie.
The first bridge "Cambie Street Bridge" was built as a simple piled timber trestle with a trussed timber swing span near the middle. It cost $12,000 (CAD).
The next bridge was a four-lane, medium level steel bridge, 1,247 metres long with streetcar tracks, completed in 1911 for $740,000. The concept was similar to the second
Granville Street Bridge . The navigation span was a steel through-truss swing span which the city would open on four hours' notice. In 1953 it opened 79 times. Even in its later years, it was opened once or twice a week. The trusses of the swing span projected through the bridge deck, dividing the two outer lanes from the two inner lanes. This caused many motor vehicle collisions. In April 1915 the creosoted wood deck caught fire, with the collapse of a 24.4 metre steel side span.The entire Cambie crossing was closed for nine months, starting November 1984, while the present higher six-lane concrete bridge was merged with the existing approaches. The new bridge cost $52.7 million and was opened on December 8, 1985 after being built to a tight timescale so as to be available for Expo 86 in May 1986. City engineer W.H.Curtis was assisted by E.A.West, Assistant City Engineer, Streets & Structures, who was closely involved in its construction.
The 1984 bridge is of a twin post-tensioned prestressed concrete type in a continuous span. The total structural length is 1100m, it carries 6 lanes of traffic and a 14 foot pedestrian walkway. The warm earthen colouring of the concrete was obtained through the addition of volcanic ash from Mount Lassen to the mix.
See also
*
Cambie Street
*List of bridges in Canada References
* [http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/ The History of Metropolitan Vancouver]
* [http://www.discovervancouver.com/GVB/vancouver-bridges.asp Bridges of Greater Vancouver]Crossings navbox
structure = Crossings
place =False Creek
bridge = Cambie Street Bridge
bridge signs =
upstream text = West
upstream =Granville Street Bridge
upstream signs =
downstream text = East
downstream =
downstream signs =
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