Traffic Bridge (Saskatoon) - History

History

The Traffic Bridge came into being when residents of Nutana agreed to merge with the town of Saskatoon and the village of Riversdale to form a city. As a condition of their joining with the other two communities, they demanded that a bridge be built for foot and vehicular traffic. Up to then, the only way to cross the river was on an unreliable ferry, or a difficult and sometimes dangerous walk across the QLLS railway bridge. The province provided funding and John Gunn and Sons was selected as the contractor. On October 10, 1907, the Traffic Bridge officially opened.

Less than a year after it opened, on June 7, 1908, the bridge became the site of Saskatoon's only shipping disaster, when a steamboat called the SS City of Medicine Hat crashed into one of the bridge's piers and sank; all aboard managed to make it to safety. This accident marked the end of steamboat traffic on the river. An anchor presumed to be the SS City of Medicine Hat's was located in August 2006 by divers training just downstream, near the Broadway Bridge. This discovery led to a full-scale, five-day underwater excavation, which was conducted from September 8 to 12, 2008. A number of artifacts were uncovered from the water. A documentary film, titled "The Last Steamship: The Search for the SS City of Medicine Hat" was created in 2010 about the wreck and the search. More artifacts were unearthed in 2012 underneath Rotary Park, where the river used to run until it was covered by landfill to create the park in the 1960s.

Two roadways cut out of the riverbank are often associated with the Traffic Bridge. Short Hill referred to the steep rise up the east bank from the foot of the bridge along Victoria Avenue. The grade was too steep for most wagon teams, as well as the streetcars that began operation in 1913. Long Hill referred to the more gradual slope up the east riverbank from the foot of the bridge to the end of 12th Street, around where the end of the Broadway Bridge is today. This road followed the old ferry road up the bank along what is now Saskatchewan Crescent. Even the Long Hill was difficult for streetcars; in March 1922, a streetcar derailed when it slid off ice-covered tracks while attempting to turn onto the bridge.

The 2 metre-wide pedestrian walkway was added on the upstream side of the bridge in 1908. In 1961, the southern end of the bridge was raised to reduce the slope on the Short Hill and to improve traffic flow, allowing Saskatchewan Crescent to pass underneath the bridge. The bridge carried approximately 10,000 vehicles per day.

The bridge was repainted in 1979, albeit as little or no surface preparation was done the work was of dubious structural benefit. Beginning in the 1980s, the bridge started to show its age and needed to be closed periodically for refurbishment. Some adjustments were also made to widen the roadway, as many modern motorists were experiencing difficulty crossing the bridge. It was also closed for extended periods of time in the early 1990s when City of Saskatoon work crews damaged the bridge twice by driving over the bridge with vehicles too heavy or too large for the bridge specifications.