Gaetz Avenue bridge expected to be completed by end of year

Gaetz Avenue bridge expected to be completed by end of year

Published 12:18 pm Friday, October 2, 2026

The replacement of a key downtown bridge is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

A $14.5 million project began in March to replace the bridge, parts of which are 114 years old, with a larger, modern version. At the same time, water, sewer and stormwater lines will be upgraded and replaced and flood control improved.

The provincial government built a two-lane span across Waskasoo Creek at Gaetz Avenue and 43rd Street in 1912 as part of the highway project to link Edmonton and Calgary. It is the second oldest bridge in the city after the 1909 CPR pedestrian bridge.

In 1957, the bridge was widened to four lanes, but the bones of the original span still remained.

“This is a full replacement of the arched structure, getting away from an arch to an abutment girder design,” said parks and public works manage Greg Sikora. “It’s a free-span design with no pier in the middle. So, basically the creek will flow underneath unobstructed.”

Crews were pouring a concrete deck on two traffic lanes and a parking lane on the west side of the bridge on Oct. 1. After the concrete cures and asphalt is laid down that half of the bridge will reopen to traffic around mid-October, said Sikora.

Two east lanes will then be tackled in similar fashion by crews, who are working on the abutments now. Bridge girders will then be placed, the concrete deck poured and other work done to make it ready for the final asphalt surface.

The project is a little behind schedule because of high stream flows in the spring.

“I think we lost about a month’s worth of time with the high stream flows this year,” he said. “It was difficult with Waskasoo Creek flowing fairly high.

“You can only bypass so much and you can only work so much if a creek is flowing at the rate it was. It slows it down a little bit.”