Granville Street Bridge
Encyclopedia
The Granville Street Bridge is an eight lane bridge in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. It spans False Creek
False Creek
False Creek is a short inlet in the heart of Vancouver. It separates downtown from the rest of the city. It was named by George Henry Richards during his Hydrographic survey of 1856-63. Science World is located at its eastern end and the Burrard Street Bridge crosses its western end. False Creek is...

 and is 27.4 metres above Granville Island
Granville Island
Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in False Creek directly across from Downtown Vancouver's peninsula, under the south end of the Granville Street Bridge....

. It is part of Highway 99.

History

The original bridge was completed in 1889. It was a 732-metre long low timber trestle
Trestle
A trestle is a rigid frame used as a support, especially referring to a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by such frames. In the context of trestle bridges, each supporting frame is generally referred to as a bent...

. The navigation span, near the north end, was a trussed timber swing span
Swing bridge
A swing bridge is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its centre of gravity, about which the turning span can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right...

, tied with wire ropes to a central wooden tower. It was largely designed by the CPR
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

, and cost $16,000. In 1891 the bridge was widened on both sides for streetcar tracks, except where the tracks converged for the swing span.

The second bridge was completed in 1909. It was a longer, medium-level steel bridge with a through truss swing span.

On February 4, 1954, the current Granville Street Bridge, costing $16.5 million, opened. A million cars would cross over the bridge in its first month. The city of Vancouver funded the bridge itself as Mayor Frederick Hume
Frederick Hume
Frederick J. Hume was the 28th mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia from 1951 to 1958. He was born in New Westminster, British Columbia where he served as mayor from 1933 to 1942...

 said "no formal assistance given by any other government body."

The eight-lane structure was constructed on the same alignment as the first bridge while steel plate girders salvaged from the second bridge made barges for constructing the foundations of the Oak Street Bridge
Oak Street Bridge
The Oak Street Bridge is a four-lane bridge crossing the Fraser River connecting Vancouver to Richmond in British Columbia. The main spans are heavy steel deck plate girders continuous over three spans of 60.9, 91.4 and 60.9 metres. The bridge is a part of Highway 99.- History :The Oak Street...

.

The first “civilian” to drive over the 1954 bridge was the same woman who was first to drive over the second bridge in 1909. She had been widowed between the two openings, and so had a different name. Both times she was at the wheel of a brand-new Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...

.

Recent improvements to the bridge include increasing its earthquake resistance
Seismic retrofit
Seismic retrofitting is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquakes. With better understanding of seismic demand on structures and with our recent experiences with large earthquakes near urban centers,...

, and installing higher curbs
Curb (road)
A curb, or kerb , is the edge where a raised pavement/sidewalk/footpath, road median, or road shoulder meets an unraised street or other roadway.-Function:...

 and median barriers.

Resources


External links

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