Bascule Bridge - The Forks - Winnipeg MB
Posted by: 
PeterNoG
N 49° 53.157 W 097° 07.763
14U E 634374 N 5527628
This bascule bridge was built as the Canadian Northern Railway Freight Lift Bridge (East Yard) and completed in 1914. It is now a Rails-to-Trails bridge.
Waymark Code: WM2NAC
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Date Posted: 11/24/2007
Views: 86
This bridge was designed not only for heavy freight railway cars to travel over the Assiniboine River but also for steamships to travel under it. The centre span of the bridge lifts and is known as a bascule (from the French word for "see-saw"). Like a see-saw, the bridge deck and the huge concrete counterweight are counterbalanced on massive bronze pivot pins. Relatively small electric motors and brakes move the concrete weight down and inwards causing the bridge deck to rise. Another bridge about 500 west was also a bascule bridge, although the counterweight and machinery was removed.
This bridge is based on designs by Joseph Strauss (1870-1938) of the Strauss Trunnion Bascule Bridge Company of Chicago, Illinois, important bridge engineers and designers of San Francisco's Golden Gate Gate Bridge (1937).
Although Federal regulations at the time required all railway bridges that crossed rivers to lift, it is unknown whether this one ever did.
Bridge Type: Drawbridge (Bascule Bridge)
Built: 01/01/1914
Pedestrian Traffic: yes
Bicycle Traffic: yes
Vehicular Traffic: no
Railway Traffic: no
Span: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the bridge and record the exact coordinates where the picture was taken.