Start of Arlington Bridge deconstruction marks ‘historic day,’ Winnipeg mayor says

The century-old bridge connecting north Winnipeg to the south is coming down after being closed in late 2023. The City of Winnipeg removed the first piece on Thursday.

The Arlington Bridge, Winnipeg’s century-old connector over a thousand-acre railway yard, is coming down. Winnipeg City Council approved the $17 million decommissioning and removal project in 2025. The first piece of the bridge was dismantling at a news conference Thursday.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said the first step of the deconstruction process marked an “historic day” in the city. “This bridge has been a very important topic of conversation. Especially for the residents of north Winnipeg and south Winnipeg that rely upon this route, and have relied upon this route for a long, long time,” he said.

With the first section of the bridge removed, the rest will be taken down piece by piece. The mayor said it’s time to prepare for a replacement structure. “There’s over 50 (sets) of tracks that this bridge spans that are active.

So, to take the bridge down, is going to take some time because it will have to be taken down in sections,” Gillingham said. The City of Winnipeg said drivers in the area should expect traffic around Logan Avenue and Arlington Street to be “intermittently affected,” in a news release. Get daily National news

The process to decommission and remove the bridge will happen in two phases. Phase one is estimated to last for six months. It will see the south portion of the bridge removed.

Next year, the second phase will begin on the north side of the bridge, near Dufferin Avenue. No cars have driven on the bridge since November of 2023, when a study showed the bridge was “in poor condition and could not be repaired or rebuilt on the same foundation,” the city said. Since then, most traffic has been rerouted onto Salter Street and McPhillips Street.

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Gillingham did not speak to the amount of progress made but told reporters “there’s been a lot of design work” when asked for an update. “We need to build a new Arlington Street bridge. That has been determined.

That’s why the City of Winnipeg and our council put money into the budget to start with the design work,” he said. Construction funding has not been determined yet but will be considered by the city council in the future, according to the city news release. Once the funding is sorted, the city estimated construction of a new bridge will take four to five years.

The mayor said he expects the city, province and Ottawa will all be involved in the effort. The Arlington Bridge opened to traffic in 1912.