bridge\u2019s long goodbye came to an end<\/a>.<\/p>\nIt was shut down after a study showed it was in such bad shape that it could not be repaired or rebuilt on the same foundation.<\/p>\n
In January 2025, city council approved $17 million for the bridge\u2019s decommissioning and removal.<\/p>\n
Damir Muhurdarevic, Winipeg\u2019s bridge projects engineer, says, \u201cThis year\u2019s work involves decommissioning\/demolition of the southern portion of the bridge. This includes removal of the south ramp and the five southern trusses. The south ramp does not extend over the yard; the five southern trusses do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Muhurdarevic says the city expects the removal of the south ramp to take between four and six weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect to start over-yard work on July 13,\u201d he says. \u201cWe expect this to take six to eight weeks. During this period, we will remove the five southern trusses, including five spans and piers, from south to north.\u201d<\/p>\n
The general contractor for the Arlington Bridge demolition is Kiewit Construction Services ULC. Three of its four subcontractors are Manitoba companies.<\/p>\n
Although the Arlington Bridge demolition is a City of Winnipeg project, CPKC says it is \u201cengaged with the city about its plans for the demolition, which includes co-ordination to minimize any potential impact on the rail yard, which will remain operational.\u201d<\/p>\n
City Coun. Ross Eadie, who represents the north end Mynarski ward, says the project is complex and expensive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bridge is ready to fail and the city is liable for damages if it does,\u201d says Eadie. \u201cThere are very few companies in North America that have the expertise to take down a bridge, because it\u2019s very risky. CPKC needs an update on the demolition every 15 minutes, so it can handle safely the logistics of train and freight car movement in the yard.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the Arlington Bridge demolition, Winnipeg Public Works has on its plate 175 kilometres of roadway, 50 sidewalks and 15 kilometres of bike lanes and active transportation routes this year.<\/p>\n
The work includes renewing St. Mary\u2019s Road from the south Perimeter Highway to the Floodway; the renewal of Lagimodiere Boulevard; and the repair of downtown Edmonton, Kennedy and St. Mary streets.<\/p>\n
Although that work is certainly welcome, Chris Lorenc, president of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association (MHCA) says his members \u201ccould be busier.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment budgets have not been keeping up with inflation,\u201d says Lorenc. \u201cFor example, the provincial highway capital budget in 2016 was $640 million. In 2026 it was only $525 million. Just to keep up with inflation, the budget should be $1.2 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Compared to the province, says Lorenc, the City of Winnipeg has been trying to keep pace with inflation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be plenty of work getting underway this spring and summer, as the city has budgeted $156.8 million to improve roads and sidewalks,\u201d he says. \u201cIt sets a good example for the province to follow, but so far there have been no takers.\u201d<\/p>\n
On a personal note, Lorenc was raised and still lives in the north end. He says he \u201cgrew up with the bridge,\u201d crossing it many times throughout his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an iconic Winnipeg structure,\u201d says Lorenc. \u201cAlthough it was structurally unsound, it would have been nice to keep it in some form, like the High Line in New York<\/a>. The Arlington Bridge has wonderful character. To lose it is sad.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The decommissioning of the old and tired Arlington Bridge in Winnipeg has finally begun. After years of studies,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":784008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-784007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}