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New Westminster Bridge

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Coordinates: 49°12′29″N 122°53′39″W / 49.208167°N 122.894204°W / 49.208167; -122.894204 (New Westminster Bridge)
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New Westminster Bridge
Coordinates49°12′29″N 122°53′39″W / 49.208167°N 122.894204°W / 49.208167; -122.894204 (New Westminster Bridge)
CarriesFreight and passenger trains
Originally, trains and automobiles
CrossesFraser River
LocaleNew Westminster
Surrey
OwnerGovernment of Canada
Maintained byCanadian National Railway
Characteristics
DesignSwing bridge
MaterialSteel[1]
Pier constructionGranite[1]
Total length543 m (1,780 ft) (not including approaches) [2]
Longest span116 m (380 ft)[3]: E–3 
No. of spans8 truss spans
Clearance below6.7 m (22 ft)[4]
Capacity60 trains per day[5]
Rail characteristics
No. of tracks1
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
ElectrifiedNo
History
DesignerWaddell & Hedrick[1]
Construction startAugust 1902[1]
Construction endJuly 1904[6]
Construction costCAD$1,000,000[6]
OpenedJuly 23, 1904[1]
Statistics
Daily traffic33 (as of 2024)[4]
Location
Map

The New Westminster Bridge (also known as the New Westminster Rail Bridge (NWRB)[7] or the Fraser River Swing Bridge) is a swing bridge that crosses the Fraser River and connects New Westminster with Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

The bridge is owned by the Government of Canada. Since 1992, the Canadian National Railway (CNR) has operated and maintained the bridge. The Southern Railway of British Columbia (SRY), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), and BNSF Railway have track usage rights. Passenger rail service over the bridge is offered by Amtrak's Cascades (with service to Portland and Seattle), Via Rail's The Canadian (with service to Toronto), and Rocky Mountaineer.[8]

History

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The New Westminster Bridge before the upper-level road deck was removed.

Construction of the New Westminster Bridge began in August 1902, and the new bridge was formally opened on July 23, 1904 by the Lieutenant governor of British Columbia.[1] It was originally built with two decks; the lower deck was used for rail traffic while the upper deck was used for automobile traffic.[9] The rail part of the bridge initially connected Great Northern Railway (predecessor of BNSF) tracks south of the river to Canadian Pacific Railway (predecessor of CPKC) tracks north of the river.[2]

Before the New Westminster Bridge was built, crossing the river required boarding the K de K or Surrey ferry, which docked at the present day neighbourhood of South Westminster (formerly the historic community of Brownsville) located in the city of Surrey.[10]

The toll for the upper bridge was 25 cents[citation needed] and created quite an uproar for farmers who found out quickly that by taking their livestock across on foot would cost them a quarter a head but if they put them in a truck it cost a quarter for the whole load.

After March 1910, passenger and vehicle tolls were no longer charged.[11]

By the 1930s, the bridge was judged inadequate to handle the increased demand in road traffic over the Fraser River. In January 1936, the Canadian Department of Public Works, which was responsible for the marine navigation safety of the country's navigable waters, determined that a dedicated new road crossing could be built under certain conditions. The new crossing would have to be located as close as possible downstream of the current bridge, and British Columbia province would have to either replace the swing span of the current bridge with a vertical-lift span that allowed 76 metres (250 ft) of horizontal clearance and 44 metres (145 ft) of vertical clearance above the freshet level, or remove the existing upper-deck road portion of the bridge and transfer bridge ownership to the Public Works department. The latter alternative was recommended to reduce the number of involved parties, because the federal government already handled marine navigation safety and controlled (before privatisation) CNR, which had become the primary user of the rail portion of the bridge. British Columbia Premier Duff Pattullo quickly declared that the province would take the latter option. The Pattullo Bridge road crossing subsequently opened in November 1937. The upper deck of the New Westminster Bridge was removed, the bridge was converted exclusively for rail use, and in October 1939, ownership of the bridge was given to the federal government.[12][13][11]

Although CNR typically accounted for 85% or more of annual traffic,[14][15] Burlington Northern Railroad (successor to Great Northern Railway, predecessor of BNSF) performed train dispatching for the bridge through at least the mid-1970s, making final decisions from its Seattle, Washington office.[16][17]

In 1992, the Canadian federal government transferred operational and maintenance control, but not ownership, of the bridge to CNR as part of an entrustment agreement.[18] That year, CNR spent CAD$15 million to rehabilitate the bridge, which was intended to add 25 years to the usable life of the crossing.[19]

In 2004, CNR and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) began some coordinated operations in Greater Vancouver to address rail capacity issues caused by Canada's growing trade volumes with Asia.[20][21][22] These new operations helped to reduce traffic pressures at the bridge.[23] In January 2006, CNR entered an agreement with BNSF to gain operational, dispatching, and maintenance control of BNSF track from the bridge northward and westward to central Vancouver and the South Shore of the Burrard Inlet in exchange for CNR assets in Illinois and Tennessee, such as similar control of interlockers in Chicago, Illinois and Memphis, Tennessee and other trackage rights. Because of this agreement, CNR gained contiguous control of its main line corridor from the North Shore of the Burrard Inlet, its Second Narrows Rail Bridge across Burrard Inlet, and Thornton Tunnel by connecting them through the BNSF track to the New Westminster Bridge and CNR's main line track south of the Fraser River.[24][25] A week later, CNR used its greater control of the BNSF track to expand the scope of its coordinated rail operations with CPR throughout the Lower Mainland.[26][27][28] By 2014, the implementation of coordinated rail operations was considered a success in preserving available rail capacity at the bridge, at least on a short-term (20-year) basis.[29]

The bridge is a heavily used single-track railway that supports only low train speeds and is swung open for marine traffic for a significant portion of each day. Because of this situation, studies have been conducted to relocate the northern terminus of Amtrak's Cascades passenger train service from Pacific Central Station in downtown Vancouver southeast by 21 kilometres (13 mi) to Surrey. The proposed new terminus at the Skytrain rapid transit system's Scott Road Station is about 900 metres (3,000 ft) from the bridge. The location would allow additional round trips from Seattle, Washington to be added by avoiding the need to cross the Fraser River.[30][31][3][32]

In the early 2020s, CNR completed seismic upgrades to the bridge.[8]

Description

[edit]

The bridge crosses the Fraser River at about 24 kilometres (15 mi) upstream of the location where the river empties into the Strait of Georgia.[33] It is situated 61 metres (200 ft) upstream of the original Pattullo Bridge road crossing,[12] but will be about 50 metres (160 ft) downstream of the new Pattullo Bridge,[34][35] which is scheduled to open in 2025 as the replacement for the 1937 road crossing.[36]

The bridge was constructed with five fixed truss spans of 48 metres (159 ft) in length near the south bank of the river (Surrey side). The width of these spans were 5.5 metres (18 ft). North of these shorter spans was the 116-metre swing truss span (380 ft), and then a fixed truss span that was also 116 metres (380 ft) in length. These two longer spans had a width of 5.8 metres (19 ft). The final truss span had a length of 69 metres (225 ft), but its width expanded from 5.8 metres (19 ft) to 41 metres (136 ft) as it neared the north bank of the river (New Westminster side). This unusual feature was designed to accommodate the splitting and turning of the bridge's rail track into eastbound and westbound tracks, which would merge with the existing CPR track along the New Westminster shoreline.[2]

The bridge's lower-deck rail track was vertically aligned with the base of all eight truss spans. The upper-deck road was placed on top of the five shorter truss spans, and was aligned at mid-height on the three longer truss spans. The horizontal clearance was 4.9 metres (16 ft) for both the rail and road decks.[2]

As of 2004, the speed limit for trains was 11 miles per hour (18 kilometres per hour), which had been increased from 8 mph (13 km/h).[37]

The bridge opens for marine traffic about 20 times each day. It takes about 7 minutes for the bridge to swing open or closed. When opened, the swing span provides 51.2 metres (168 ft) of horizontal clearance at a river control depth of 9.9 metres (32 ft) for the New Westminster side of the opening (which usually hosts ship traffic headed upstream), and it provides 48.8 metres (160 ft) of horizontal clearance at a river control depth of 8.2 metres (27 ft) for the Surrey side (which usually hosts ships headed downstream).[4] The deepest part of the river actually flows under the 116-metre fixed span (380 ft), where the water depth under ordinary conditions was 24 to 26 metres (80 to 85 ft) at the time of construction.[33]

Proposed changes

[edit]

There have been several proposals to renovate or replace the current swing bridge with a vertical-lift bridge span. Lumber company Crown Zellerbach had requested a lift bridge conversion from 1936 into the late 1960s, because the tides, freshets, river channel currents, and limited horizontal clearance of the swing bridge prevented oceangoing ships from directly reaching its lumber exporting site upstream at Fraser Mills, British Columbia.[38] In 1964, William George Swan, who designed the original Pattullo Bridge and the replacement Second Narrows road bridge, lobbied the federal government to build a wider, vertical-lift bridge in place of the current bridge.[39] In 1976, when the bridge was out of service after having a span destroyed by a ship collision, a conversion to a lift bridge mechanism was suggested again. However, the estimate of 18 months to build a lift span was considered too much time for the rail network to survive without a working bridge.[40]

By 2003, the bridge handled 46 train crossings per day (out of a rated daily capacity of 59 trains),[41] and it was identified as a first-priority rail infrastructure project in Greater Vancouver.[42] Three improvement scenarios were studied in 2004. The first scenario kept status quo operations between rail carriers but replaced the bridge with a new CAD$110 million, 850-metre long (2,790 ft), single-track vertical-lift bridge replacement that supports higher speeds, has a higher 11.7-metre clearance (38 ft) when closed, and is expandable to a double-track bridge. The second scenario maintained status quo operations but replaced the bridge with a new CAD$420 million, 7.5-kilometre long (4.7 mi), single-track tunnel (immersed tube below the Fraser River channel) to replace the existing bridge. The third scenario implemented coordinated rail operations between rail carriers but retained the existing bridge.[43] The study recommended that coordinated rail operations be undertaken.[44]

In 2010, as part of investigations to replace the original Pattullo Bridge road crossing adjacent to the New Westminster Bridge, Transport Canada studied two possible options to replace the rail crossing: a double-track, single-deck bridge at the same elevation for CAD$360 million, and a double-deck bridge for CAD$470 million. CNR advocated its own option, which was a triple-track, single-deck vertical-lift bridge at the same elevation for CAD$600 million. The upstream and middle bridge tracks would connect the CNR-controlled BNSF main line tracks north of the river to the CNR main line tracks south of the river, while the downstream bridge track would be accessible from all 5 approaches, like the lone track on the current bridge.[45]

In the early 2020s, the Canada Infrastructure Bank funded a study to examine freight traffic needs over the New Westminster bridge.[18] The study narrowed down to two options to address traffic growth. The first option was to simply replace the current single-track bridge with a new double-track bridge in the existing location. The second, preferred option was to maintain the existing bridge with structural upgrades, while also building an additional, double-track bridge upstream from the current bridge.[46]

Incidents

[edit]
Fire on the New Westminster Bridge in May 1982.

On December 26, 1975, the bridge was damaged when a log barge drifted into and through the structure, ripping out the 116-metre main span (380 ft).[47] The bridge was repaired and returned to service in late April 1976.[48][49][50] The relatively quick fix was helped by modifying a recently completed design for a span that was just 1.5 metres (5 ft) shorter, created by the Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff design firm of Kansas City, Missouri[51] for the Rulo Rail Bridge over the Missouri River in Rulo, Nebraska.[52]

On May 29, 1982, a significant fire broke out on the New Westminster Bridge.[53] The fire put the bridge out of service for almost a month. The bridge reopened on June 23, 1982.[54][55]

On November 28, 1987, a barge struck the bridge. The resulting legal action of Canadian National Railway Co. v. Norsk Pacific Steamship Co. became a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision.[56]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f "Fraser River Bridge, New Westminster, British Columbia". Hardesty & Hanover. June 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d "A new bridge over the Fraser River at New Westminster, British Columbia". The Railroad Gazette. Vol. 34, no. 35. August 29, 1902. p. 666. hdl:2027/mdp.39015013053833. ISSN 0097-6679. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  3. ^ a b "§E: Amtrak Cascades northern terminus options". Washington State Long-Range Plan for Amtrak Cascades (PDF) (Report). Washington State Department of Transportation. February 2006. ARK ark:/13960/t9b68gq91. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 8, 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "§16.2: New Westminster rail bridge" (PDF). Port information guide. Port of Vancouver (Report). January 2024. pp. 145–146. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
  5. ^ "The system in 2030 - Rail". Greater Vancouver Gateway Council. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Fraser River bridge opened to traffic. His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor in presence of vast throng formally declares the great structure dedicated to public use". Victoria Daily Colonist. Vol. 92 (published July 24, 1904). July 23, 1904. pp. 1, 2. ISSN 0839-4261. ARK ark:/13960/t7xm0b36p.
  7. ^ IBI Group 2004, p. 3.
  8. ^ a b Adair, Paul (June 2023). "The New Westminster Railway Bridge seismic upgrade project". Piling Canada. ISSN 1912-5917. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
  9. ^ Francis, Daniel (September 1, 2012). Trucking in British Columbia: An Illustrated History. Harbour Publishing. ISBN 978-1550175615.
  10. ^ Zytaruk, Tom (July 19, 2012). "'A lot of history here.' FedEx's massive truck hub is being built on Surrey land that has a long and storied history". News. Surrey Now. p. A03. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  11. ^ a b "Rail bridge to be given: Structure on which province has spent $2,500,000 will be deeded over". Victoria Daily Colonist. No. 38. January 25, 1936. p. 2. ISSN 0839-4261. ARK ark:/13960/t5t75dm5c.
  12. ^ a b Bernier 1968, pp. 278–279, 303
  13. ^ "Federal government approves plans for bridge over Fraser: Approval conditional to lift span being installed in present structure or removal of traffic deck by province". Victoria Daily Colonist. No. 37. January 24, 1936. pp. 1, 8. ISSN 0839-4261. ARK ark:/13960/t0zp71s6n.
  14. ^ Brettle, Paul (May 10, 1976). "Pool engineer says moving terminals costly, impractical". Regina Leader-Post. p. 34. ISSN 0839-2870.
  15. ^ Canadian National Railway Co. v. Norsk Pacific Steamship Co., [1992 1 SCR 1021 21838], The Relationship Between the Plaintiff and the Bridge Owner (Supreme Court of Canada April 30, 1992) ("Of the four railways CN was the principal user, accounting for 85 to 86 per cent of the railway cars using the bridge in 1987. On average it sent 32 trains with 1530 cars a day across the bridge.").
  16. ^ "The business car". Canadian Rail (309). The Canadian Railroad Historical Association: 318. October 1977. ISSN 0008-4875.
  17. ^ Hall, Emmett M. (1977). "§7: Ports and terminals" (PDF). Grain and rail in western Canada: Report of the Grain Handling and Transportation Commission. Grain Handling and Transportation Commission (Report). Vol. I. pp. 223–224. ISBN 9780660010144. OCLC 3415096.
  18. ^ a b "Study on New Westminster Rail Bridge (NWRB) Asia-Pacific gateway". Canadian Trucking Alliance. February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  19. ^ Gault, G.; Nowak, G.; Stenvold, R.; Skaberna, S.; Sweeney, R. A. P. (May 27–29, 1992). Fraser River railway bridge rehabilitation. Annual conference of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (1992 ed.). Quebec City, Quebec. pp. 177–186. ISBN 0921303327. OCLC 61475070.
  20. ^ "CN and CPR announce co-production agreements to improve service to the Port of Vancouver". Canadian National Railway (Press release). October 19, 2004. ProQuest 445560357. Archived from the original on September 27, 2006.
  21. ^ "Giving it up for capacity: Canadian rivals become partners to address high demand for track space in Vancouver". Traffic World. Vol. 268, no. 43. October 25, 2004. p. 26. ISSN 0041-073X. Gale A123854990.
  22. ^ Dobrovolny, Jerry (February 6, 2009). False Creek Flats rail corridor strategy (PDF) (Report). Vancouver City Council. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
  23. ^ IBI Group 2004, §1.3.2: NWRB replacement.
  24. ^ "CN and BNSF Railway announce agreement to increase network fluidity and infrastructure capacity". Canadian National Railway (Press release). January 19, 2006. ProQuest 445295624. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
  25. ^ "CN, BNSF to share assets in Canada, Tennessee, and Illinois". Trains. Vol. 66, no. 4. April 2006. p. 14. ISSN 0041-0934. ProQuest 206637455.
  26. ^ "CN and Canadian Pacific Railway to implement further service improvements at the Port of Vancouver". Canadian National Railway (Press release). January 26, 2006. ProQuest 445292678. Archived from the original on June 7, 2007.
  27. ^ "CN-CPR Vancouver Routing & Switching Agreement" (PDF) (Map). Canadian National Railway. January 26, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 27, 2006.
  28. ^ Ewins, Adrian (February 2, 2006). "CN, CP co-operate on tracks". The Western Producer. ISSN 0043-4094. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  29. ^ "§4.3.6: New Westminster rail bridge" (PDF). The economic importance of the lower Fraser River. Richmond Chamber of Commerce (Report). July 2014. pp. 48–50. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
  30. ^ Nagel, Jeff (March 6, 2007). "Surrey eyes for Amtrak station". Peace Arch News. ISSN 0700-9003. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  31. ^ Wilbur Smith Associates (December 20, 2002). "§6: Scott Road station pre-feasibility analysis" (PDF). Cascade Gateway rail study (Report). International Mobility and Trade Corridor Project (IMTC). OCLC 53009932. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  32. ^ "§A: Greater Vancouver, BC terminal options". Washington state Amtrak Cascades operating costs technical report (Report). Vol. 4. Washington State Department of Transportation. February 2006. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  33. ^ a b "Substructure". Engineering News. The New Westminster bridge over the Fraser River, British Columbia. 53 (24): 611–614. June 15, 1905. hdl:2027/coo.31924062323047. ISSN 0096-3690. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  34. ^ Cameron, Grant (July–August 2023). "Bridging the gap on the Fraser River". Rock to Road. Vol. 37, no. 4. pp. 17–18, 20–21. ISSN 2293-7862. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
  35. ^ Chan, Kenneth (April 1, 2021). "New Pattullo Bridge construction underway, but opening pushed to 2024". The Daily Hive. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  36. ^ Burns, Anna (May 25, 2024). "Pattullo Bridge replacement delayed again, now projected to open in 2025". Peace Arch News. ISSN 0700-9003. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
  37. ^ IBI Group 2004, p. 38.
  38. ^ Carney, Pat (March 20, 1967). "$3.75 million spent". Vancouver Sun. Vol. 81, no. 146. p. 26. ISSN 0832-1299. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  39. ^ Fletcher, Bill (October 1, 1964). "Col. W. G. Swan ... busy octagenarian". Vancouver Sun. p. 39. ISSN 0832-1299. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  40. ^ Simaluk, Vern (February 16, 1976). "Rumbling coal trains spot harbor's future". Calgary Herald. p. 32. ISSN 0828-1815. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  41. ^ Major commercial transportation system (MCTS) rail infrastructure improvements matrix (PDF) (Report). Greater Vancouver Gateway Council. April 23, 2003. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  42. ^ "§4.1: MCTS rail infrastructure priorities – Best use of existing system". Major commercial transportation system rail capacity & regional planning issues overview (PDF) (Report). Greater Vancouver Gateway Council. February 2003. pp. 12–13. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  43. ^ IBI Group 2004, pp. 5, A2.1.
  44. ^ IBI Group 2004, pp. 86, 87, 88.
  45. ^ Janet Drysdale, Canadian National Railway (February 28 – March 1, 2018). Expanding capacity for the future (PDF). Annual General Meeting (2018 ed.). Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Federation of Agriculture. pp. 14, 18. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
  46. ^ Simpson, Jeff (September 24, 2024). Identifying a novel solution to address western Canada's most significant trade bottleneck. 2024 Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) Conference & Exhibition. Vancouver, British Columbia. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
  47. ^ "Marine traffic moves again". Victoria Daily Colonist. Vol. 118, no. 14. Canadian Press. December 28, 1975. p. 2. ISSN 0839-4261. ARK ark:/13960/t9k438373.
  48. ^ "Bridge ready by Saturday". Regina Leader-Post. Canadian Press. April 21, 1976. p. 18. ISSN 0839-2870.
  49. ^ "Amtrak train to B.C. operating". Ellensburg Daily Record. Vol. 75, no. 102. United Press International. April 29, 1976. p. 2.
  50. ^ "Railway bridge ramming in B.C. settled out-of-court". Regional. Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. Canadian Press. May 7, 1981. p. C19. ISSN 0832-4182.
  51. ^ Sanford 2004, pp. 162–163.
  52. ^ "Re: Dec. 26, 1975 at New West".
  53. ^ "New Westminster Bridge fire with tugboats attending". City of New Westminster. May 29, 1982. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  54. ^ Nunn, Thomas (June 23, 1982). "Record expected in grain shipments". Regina Leader-Post. p. B1. ISSN 0839-2870.
  55. ^ "Rail bridge opened". Vancouver Sun. June 24, 1982. p. A2. ISSN 0839-4806.
  56. ^ "Case summary". www.taylorfrancis.com. doi:10.4324/9781843145790-45.

Bibliography

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