Abstract Manager

The St. Vital Bridge over the Red River in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was built in 1964 and rehabilitated in 1988. It is a vital link within the City of Winnipeg’s transportation network connecting Dunkirk Drive to Osborne Street. The City of Winnipeg retained Stantec (formerly Morrison Hershfield Limited) to begin planning the structure’s rehabilitation to extend its service life by 50 years. The rehabilitation included the removal, widening and reconstruction of the bridge deck which gave the opportunity to improve the surrounding 1.5 km road and pedestrian corridor.

This case study will discuss the rehabilitation of the roadway by revising the road geometry and adding active transportation connections to the existing network. It will also discuss the changes made to the overall experience of the corridor by reducing the speed, removing high speed elements, and landscaping.

There were many design challenges with balancing the existing bridge crossing while providing a connection for all users including access to the adjacent golf course, four neighbourhoods as well as the commuters to and from downtown Winnipeg, while balancing driver expectation.

The speed limit was reduced to a consistent 60 km/hr from Fermor Avenue over the structure to Jubilee Avenue, allowing for the removal of aluminum barriers and overhead structures. This provided the space needed to reduce lane widths and shy distances on the bridge structures to allow for multi-use paths to cross the bridge on the existing substructure and provide a much-needed connection for cyclists.

The reduced road cross section was carried south of the structures to incorporate new transit stops and multi-use path connections to existing pedestrian tunnels and existing facilities. A major change was the removal of the acceleration and deceleration lanes on the Dunkirk Drive and reconstruction of the on/off ramps to a residential collector road cross section rather than an elaborate multi-lane loops with medians and off-road transit stops and providing safer crossings of cyclists and pedestrians.

One of the biggest design challenges was to provide multi-use path connections with acceptable slopes to the two existing tunnels under the roadway. The design reduced the approach slopes to a maximum 5%, by adding length and designating existing roadway to multi-use path only.

Other features included providing areas for tree planting, street and path lighting, and improved signage to provide a facility for all users.