Crowchild Trail pedestrian bridge reopening delayed several months

The City of Calgary says unexpected delays are pushing back the reopening of a popular pedestrian bridge underneath Crowchild Trail.

The span over the Bow River was closed in November to allow workers access to the roadway above it for the major widening project on the often-bottlenecked route that got underway last fall.

The original plan was for the pedestrian bridgeto reopenthis spring.

• Crowchild Trail construction means lane closures and speed reductions for two years
• How Calgary plans to retrofit its 1960s-era Crowchild bridge to meet 21st century demands

But Jeff Baird, the project's senior transportation engineer, says a harsh winter has pushed back the schedule.

"We fully understand the importance of this bridge. I mean, most people working on site have used it or would like to use it again as well. So we are all in the same boat in wanting to get this bridge reopened," he said.

"We know that this is a critical bridge in the pathway system. We just can't open it up until it's safe for our crews and the pathway users that would be crossing it."

The delay is frustrating for joggers and cyclists like Dennis Holder.

"It just makes it easier because then you don't have to bike up a couple of hills," he said.

The$87-million project to widenand modernize CrowchildTrail where it crosses the river is slated for completion in the fall of 2019.

Work currently underway includes:

• Adding a northbound and southbound traffic lane on Crowchild Trail between Memorial Drive and Bow Trail (an estimated two-year job).
• Completing life-cycle maintenance and rehabilitation on the bridges over Memorial Drive, the Bow River and Bow Trail (an estimated two-year job).
• Moving the on-ramps that lead from westbound Bow Trail/10th Avenue S.W. onto northbound CrowchildTrail to the eastside of Crowchild(an estimated one-year job).
• The addition of a northboundlane between Memorial Drive and FifthAvenue N.W. and repositioning the off-ramp from northbound Crowchild to eastbound Memorial.

Related work is also plannedfarther to the north, including noise walls along Crowchild near16th Avenue N.W. and a new ramp to connect westbound 16thAvenue with northbound Crowchild.

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