The existing Provencher Bridge, in downtown Winnipeg, will reach the end of its useful service life by the end of 2002. The City of Winnipeg, Public Works Department was challenged with how it was going to invest a significant amount of public infrastructure money to restore this vital link to the community of St. Boniface. An intensive public consultation process was utilized to develop the most appropriate solution when considering the needs of the local communities, traffic utilization, safety, history, environmental effects, and cost. The direction obtained from the public consultation process was to replace the existing bridge with a paired bridge design consisting of a conventional vehicular bridge and a separate suspended pedestrian bridge. The paired bridge concept best met the requirements of the public, advisory committee, and the City. Near unanimous consensus was made on the selection. The objective of the project was then to design and construct the paired bridges while maintaining a minimum level of service on the existing bridge and be completed by the fall of 2003. This paper describes the problem with the existing structure. It describes the public consultation process, the new Provencher Vehicular Bridge, the present state of construction, and the new Pedestrian Bridge. The project is jointly funded between the City of Winnipeg, the Province of Manitoba, and the Government of Canada through the public infrastructure program. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E211271.(Author/publisher).
Abstract