Some 35 years ago the St. Patrick Street Bridge over the Rideau River in the City of Ottawa was replaced. In the then-prevailing climate of bridge design, a conventional post-tensioned concrete multi-span slab bridge was selected for design, and it was constructed in 1975. It might be described as functional but perhaps uninspiring. Since then the steel box girder Hunt Club Bridge has been constructed over the Rideau River, and the Cummings Bridge has been rehabilitated, amongst other bridge works over the river. As well, in the intervening years the Rideau Canal has now been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is on the National Register of Historic Sites in Canada. It is now proposed that another new bridge over the Rideau River and Rideau Canal be constructed near the south limit of the City. The development of this project offers the opportunity of examining the significant changes which the bridge design and engineering process has undergone since 1975. This paper follows the evolution of the changes in bridge engineering exemplified by the St. Patrick Street Bridge of 1975, to the current artistic and environmentally-positive approach to bridge engineering built into the proposed new Rideau Arch Bridge, which is intended to inspire the passers-by and contribute in a beneficial way to the City of Ottawa. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E217481.
Abstract