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When undergoing rapid redevelopment, a city’s historical landmarks and buildings can become frozen in time, relics from a previous age set in a continually changing streetscape. Edmonton’s High Level Bridge — one of four steel truss bridges designed by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the pre-World War era — has changed in uses and design to meet the needs of Edmontonians and the city’s ever-changing infrastructure for over a century.
For this week’s Throwback Thursday, we will take a look at some of the significant changes that the High Level Bridge — and its surrounding area — has undergone since it opened in 1913. Spanning the North Saskatchewan River, the High Level Bridge was originally envisioned to connect Edmonton to Strathcona prior to amalgamation in 1912. Upon its completion, the 2,550-foot-long bridge was notable for serving a range of transportation interests, accommodating streetcars, motor vehicles, pedestrians, and trains.
While streetcar service was discontinued on the bridge in 1953 — now only running seasonally on the bridge's upper deck for tourism— followed by the CPR’s decision to stop running on the bridge’s upper deck in 1989, the bridge has remained a pivotal point of connection between southern Edmonton and the city’s downtown core.
From 1994 to 1995, the High Level Bridge underwent extensive reconstruction to widen its pedestrian walkways, transitioning into a one-way path for vehicular and pedestrian traffic on its lower deck, while becoming one of the city’s busiest cycling routes.
After approval by the City in 2014, the High Level Bridge underwent reconstruction to install suicide barriers around the bridge’s parameters, following 43 reported suicide attempts by the police within a two-year period. Completed in September of 2015, the $3 million project has proved controversial; while under construction, sections of the pedestrian walkway were closed off, reducing the amount of space for cyclists and pedestrians.
As you can see from the images — one taken on the bridge in 1962 and one from October 2016 — the area surrounding the High Level Bridge has significantly changed over the 44-year period. Manulife Place — a 36-storey highrise completed in 1983, and the city’s tallest building prior to 2011 — stands at the centre of the rapidly developing region, with its reflective glazing towering over the city’s skyline. Found in the right corner of the image above, you can also see the ongoing construction of the Walterdale Bridge, the $155 million, 56-metre-tall project that will replace the existing Walterdale Bridge upon its projected completion later in 2017. Other buildings, such as the Alberta Legislative Building, with its large terracotta central dome anchor the city’s rapidly developing infrastructure in its historical past.
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