Demolition work has started on the 124-year-old steel through truss Arlington Bridge in the Canadian city of Winnipeg.
Work is being done in two phases. Part A is removing the south end of the bridge from Logan Avenue to midway into the Canadian Pacific rail yard and will be finished in October. Part B, to start I June next year, will continue the bridge removal to the north at Dufferin Avenue.
Kiewit Construction Services is the general contractor for the demolition, with three of its four subcontractors being Manitoba companies.
The bridge, 657m long and 12m wide, was built between 1910 and 1912 and connected Winnipeg’s north end to the city centre, spanning the large rail yard. The concrete piers constructed by William Newman and Company and the bridge was designed and built by the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company of Darlington in England. It was designed to carry streetcars, but its steep approaches made this impossible and the tracks were removed in 1926.
The bridge was close permanently in November 2023 after a study showed it was in poor condition and could not be repaired or rebuilt on the same foundation. In January 2025, Winnipeg city council approved US$12 million for the decommissioning and removal, as well as an additional US$3.5 million to begin design of a new bridge.
According to the city council, the design will be a two-lane bridge with pedestrian and cycle paths and include upgrades to approach roads. Design life is expected to be 75 years. However, funding for construction is not yet approved.
