Westmorland Street Bridge
Encyclopedia
The Westmorland Street Bridge is a bridge crossing the Saint John River in Fredericton
, New Brunswick
, Canada
.
(or the Ring Road) in Nashwaaksis
, a neighbourhood of Fredericton since municipal amalgamation in the 1970s.
The bridge is a continuous steel girder structure with concrete sidewalls measuring 750 m (0.45 mile) long and carrying 4 traffic lanes with a posted speed limit of 70 km/h (43.5 mph). There is a pedestrian/bicycle pathway on the north side of the vehicle lanes.
s on the Saint John River, a large part of the river floodplain
is preserved as open space free from development on both sides of the bridge; part of this open space on both sides of the river is taken up by bridge collector roadways - the west bank of the southerly-flowing river (or south side in the Fredericton area) hosts Pointe-Sainte-Anne Boulevard (occasionally called Riverfront Drive), whereas the east bank (or north side) hosts Devonshire Drive. Incidentally, Pointe-Sainte-Anne was the historic Acadian
name for Fredericton as this "point" in the river was the location of a former village opposite Fort Nashwaak, hence the French name for the street passing over this territory.
These roadways opened at the same time as the Westmorland Street Bridge and are accessed via modified cloverleaf interchange
s. The final element of the Westmorland Street Bridge was completed on 5 September 2008 when the northeast exit ramp from the bridge for eastbound traffic on Devonshire Drive was opened. This ramp was part of the original design for the bridge but was not built in the 1970s as a result of budget cuts. The missing ramp was periodically resurrected by municipal politicians over a period of 25 years until construction finally began in 2007. Prior to the opening of the northeast ramp, a temporary connection was built to the eastbound lanes of Union Street (which parallels Devonshire Drive).
Prior to late 1950s, Fredericton had a single bridge crossing the Saint John River. The Carleton Street Bridge was constructed at the turn of the 20th century as an extension of Carleton Street on the west bank (or south side) to Bridge Street (now Cliffe Street) on the east bank (or north side). In 1959 the Princess Margaret Bridge
was opened as part of the construction of the Route 2
(the Trans-Canada Highway
) bypass project around the city.
In 1968, construction of the Mactaquac Dam
15 kilometres upriver from Fredericton closed the river to navigable traffic above the city. That same year saw residents and government officials begin to discuss a replacement for the Carleton Street Bridge, now that the costly navigation requirement was eliminated. By the early 1970s, the provincial government (the project's primary proponent) had settled on an ambitious traffic planning scheme which would see a single new low profile bridge constructed from the foot of Westmorland Street with appropriate collector roads along the waterfront floodplain.
This plan elicited various protests by residents and the Citizens' Bridge Committee was founded in May 1974 to urge the provincial government to find an alternative to the site of the proposed Westmorland Street Bridge; issues cited included the location, size and cost of the crossing. The Westmorland Street location was considered controversial as it, and the collector roads required, would have a major impact on the city's historic riverfront. The Fredericton chapter of the New Brunswick Conservation Council and the Fredericton Heritage Trust were among several other organizations which sought changes to the proposed bridge location and design.
The objectives of the Citizens' Bridge Committee included the following: to acquire citizen participation in the decisions relating to bridge and highway construction in the city of Fredericton, to develop public awareness of the problem, to coordinate public input, and to articulate community concerns. The committee sought expert opinions on bridge and highway matters, released news items, provided speakers to groups and information to the general public, and represented public concerns before governments and government agencies.http://dev.hil.unb.ca/archives/bridge/bridge.html#contents
The committee dissolved in September 1975, having decided its members had presented their views to the public; the Westmorland Bridge project had been given a lower priority by the government of Richard Hatfield
at this point as a result of the opposition in segments of the community. In January 1977 a new committee was formed and was called Save Our City in response to renewed efforts by the provincial government to proceed with a replacement for the Carleton Bridge. This committee included representatives from the York-Sunbury Historical Society, the New Brunswick Conservation Council, the University Women's Club, Fredericton Heritage Trust, Community Planning Association of Canada, various neighbourhood associations, and some members from the Citizen's Bridge Committee. The aim of this new committee was to "open the eyes and ears of civil servants and politicians who have persisted in ignoring the substantial opposition to the Westmorland Street bridge proposal."http://dev.hil.unb.ca/archives/bridge/bridge.html#contents
Construction of the Westmorland Street Bridge began in the late 1970s and required both swing spans on the Fredericton Railway Bridge
and the Carleton Street Bridge be opened for tugboats and barges needed during the project. This would be the last time the railway bridge swing span was ever opened.
Following the completion of construction for the Westmorland Street Bridge in 1982, the steel truss spans of the Carleton Bridge were dismantled; the bridge's piers remain in place across the river with 2 shore-bound piers on the west bank (south side) being used to carry a short pedestrian bridge across Pointe-Sainte-Anne Boulevard. Another pier (second from the south side shore) was the location of a fountain - the Silver Spire of Inspiration - constructed in 2001 to honour New Brunswick athletes who participated in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, including Fredericton swimmer Marianne Limpert
. (Other than the summer of 2003, the fountain has only worked sporadically, but elements of it may find a new home at the Grant-Harvey Arena complex, scheduled to open in 2011.)
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Fredericton is the capital of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by virtue of the provincial parliament which sits there. An important cultural, artistic, and educational centre for the province, Fredericton is home to two universities and cultural institutions such as the Beaverbrook Art...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Structure
Opened in 1981, the Westmorland Street Bridge is an extension of Westmorland Street in Fredericton's central business district and connects with Route 105New Brunswick Route 105
Route 105 is a highway in New Brunswick, Canada; running from Route 10 in Youngs Cove to Route 108 in Grand Falls, mostly along the east and north banks of the Saint John River, for a distance of 307 kilometres.- Route description :...
(or the Ring Road) in Nashwaaksis
Nashwaaksis, New Brunswick
Nashwaaksis is a neighbourhood and former village in the city of Fredericton, New Brunswick; it is located on the east bank of the Saint John River and at the mouth of the Nashwaaksis Stream, which should not be confused with the larger Nashwaak River nearby...
, a neighbourhood of Fredericton since municipal amalgamation in the 1970s.
The bridge is a continuous steel girder structure with concrete sidewalls measuring 750 m (0.45 mile) long and carrying 4 traffic lanes with a posted speed limit of 70 km/h (43.5 mph). There is a pedestrian/bicycle pathway on the north side of the vehicle lanes.
Access roads
Due to the propensity of spring freshetFreshet
A freshet can refer to one of two things:* A flood resulting from heavy rain or a spring thaw. Whereas heavy rain often causes a flash flood, a spring thaw event is generally a more incremental process, depending upon local climate and topography...
s on the Saint John River, a large part of the river floodplain
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
is preserved as open space free from development on both sides of the bridge; part of this open space on both sides of the river is taken up by bridge collector roadways - the west bank of the southerly-flowing river (or south side in the Fredericton area) hosts Pointe-Sainte-Anne Boulevard (occasionally called Riverfront Drive), whereas the east bank (or north side) hosts Devonshire Drive. Incidentally, Pointe-Sainte-Anne was the historic Acadian
Acadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
name for Fredericton as this "point" in the river was the location of a former village opposite Fort Nashwaak, hence the French name for the street passing over this territory.
These roadways opened at the same time as the Westmorland Street Bridge and are accessed via modified cloverleaf interchange
Cloverleaf interchange
A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which left turns, reverse direction in left-driving regions, are handled by ramp roads...
s. The final element of the Westmorland Street Bridge was completed on 5 September 2008 when the northeast exit ramp from the bridge for eastbound traffic on Devonshire Drive was opened. This ramp was part of the original design for the bridge but was not built in the 1970s as a result of budget cuts. The missing ramp was periodically resurrected by municipal politicians over a period of 25 years until construction finally began in 2007. Prior to the opening of the northeast ramp, a temporary connection was built to the eastbound lanes of Union Street (which parallels Devonshire Drive).
History
Considerable public debate preceded construction of the Westmorland Street Bridge in both municipal and provincial politics.Prior to late 1950s, Fredericton had a single bridge crossing the Saint John River. The Carleton Street Bridge was constructed at the turn of the 20th century as an extension of Carleton Street on the west bank (or south side) to Bridge Street (now Cliffe Street) on the east bank (or north side). In 1959 the Princess Margaret Bridge
Princess Margaret Bridge
The Princess Margaret Bridge, sometimes called the Princess Margaret Rose Bridge or shortened to just PMB, is a 2-lane highway bridge crossing the St. John River at Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada...
was opened as part of the construction of the Route 2
New Brunswick Route 2
Route 2 is a major provincial highway in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, carrying the main route of the Trans-Canada Highway in the province...
(the Trans-Canada Highway
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins the ten provinces of Canada. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km...
) bypass project around the city.
In 1968, construction of the Mactaquac Dam
Mactaquac Dam
The Mactaquac Dam is an embankment dam used to generate hydroelectricity in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It dams the waters of the Saint John River and is operated by NB Power with a capacity to generate 653 megawatts of electricity from 6 turbines; this represents 20 percent of New...
15 kilometres upriver from Fredericton closed the river to navigable traffic above the city. That same year saw residents and government officials begin to discuss a replacement for the Carleton Street Bridge, now that the costly navigation requirement was eliminated. By the early 1970s, the provincial government (the project's primary proponent) had settled on an ambitious traffic planning scheme which would see a single new low profile bridge constructed from the foot of Westmorland Street with appropriate collector roads along the waterfront floodplain.
This plan elicited various protests by residents and the Citizens' Bridge Committee was founded in May 1974 to urge the provincial government to find an alternative to the site of the proposed Westmorland Street Bridge; issues cited included the location, size and cost of the crossing. The Westmorland Street location was considered controversial as it, and the collector roads required, would have a major impact on the city's historic riverfront. The Fredericton chapter of the New Brunswick Conservation Council and the Fredericton Heritage Trust were among several other organizations which sought changes to the proposed bridge location and design.
The objectives of the Citizens' Bridge Committee included the following: to acquire citizen participation in the decisions relating to bridge and highway construction in the city of Fredericton, to develop public awareness of the problem, to coordinate public input, and to articulate community concerns. The committee sought expert opinions on bridge and highway matters, released news items, provided speakers to groups and information to the general public, and represented public concerns before governments and government agencies.http://dev.hil.unb.ca/archives/bridge/bridge.html#contents
The committee dissolved in September 1975, having decided its members had presented their views to the public; the Westmorland Bridge project had been given a lower priority by the government of Richard Hatfield
Richard Hatfield
Richard Bennett Hatfield, PC, ONB was a New Brunswick politician and long time Premier of the province .- Early life :...
at this point as a result of the opposition in segments of the community. In January 1977 a new committee was formed and was called Save Our City in response to renewed efforts by the provincial government to proceed with a replacement for the Carleton Bridge. This committee included representatives from the York-Sunbury Historical Society, the New Brunswick Conservation Council, the University Women's Club, Fredericton Heritage Trust, Community Planning Association of Canada, various neighbourhood associations, and some members from the Citizen's Bridge Committee. The aim of this new committee was to "open the eyes and ears of civil servants and politicians who have persisted in ignoring the substantial opposition to the Westmorland Street bridge proposal."http://dev.hil.unb.ca/archives/bridge/bridge.html#contents
Construction of the Westmorland Street Bridge began in the late 1970s and required both swing spans on the Fredericton Railway Bridge
Fredericton Railway Bridge
The Fredericton Railway Bridge is a former railway bridge in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.It crosses the Saint John River from the east end of Fredericton's central business district on the west bank of the river to the former community of South Devon on the east bank.Since 1997, it has been...
and the Carleton Street Bridge be opened for tugboats and barges needed during the project. This would be the last time the railway bridge swing span was ever opened.
Following the completion of construction for the Westmorland Street Bridge in 1982, the steel truss spans of the Carleton Bridge were dismantled; the bridge's piers remain in place across the river with 2 shore-bound piers on the west bank (south side) being used to carry a short pedestrian bridge across Pointe-Sainte-Anne Boulevard. Another pier (second from the south side shore) was the location of a fountain - the Silver Spire of Inspiration - constructed in 2001 to honour New Brunswick athletes who participated in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, including Fredericton swimmer Marianne Limpert
Marianne Limpert
Marianne Louise Limpert is a former freestyle and medley swimmer who competed the Summer Olympics for Canada in 1992, 1996 and 2000, and won the silver medal in the 200m Individual Medley in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia...
. (Other than the summer of 2003, the fountain has only worked sporadically, but elements of it may find a new home at the Grant-Harvey Arena complex, scheduled to open in 2011.)