Those are really cool photos. The City said the bridge was used for electric trains. Maybe the city has it wrong, and the electric trains (funicular) were adjacent to the bridge as you say. I do think it would be difficult to run tracks across the bridge as there is a pretty abrupt crest between...

Does anybody have any more details on the early history of this bridge? The project page on the City’s website says it was first built for electric trains to service the nearby coal mines?! Are there any photos of these trains? I assume they connected up with the EY&P in Rossdale. I can’t find...

No the lights are still covered. They still need to build the curb cutouts and the multi-use path on the north side of Kingsway in the spring. I imagine they’ll wait until then before turning them on.

I would rather they leave that corner alone. I love how mature the trees are getting, it’s actually a nice bit of green space. MacEwan has other land they can build on.

This is the Métis Housing Development. I didn’t know it was going to have retail.

As mentioned by CplKlinger, yes, there were freight trains. Quite a bit of traffic actually. Even though CP’s main yard was in Strathcona, they interchanged with CN north of the river, and had numerous customer spurs where Railtown Park is now. Also, CP, at one point owned a share of Northern...

Thanks for sharing the article. Last I heard, the master plan was going to inform the budget this year, which is dropping at the end of February. I wonder if we’ll see at least part of the plan at that point.

I think I heard that nearly half the mass of some of the steel pieces has been lost from rust. That’s not really something you can repair. That steel is gone forever. The problem is CP hardly (if ever) painted it, allowing rust to eat away at the steel. I believe the city has done what they can...

The deterioration of the bridge is primarily due to lack of maintenance by CP back when they owned the bridge. It’s really unfortunate, but a bridge should be a safe piece of infrastructure first and foremost, no matter how historically significant. I think demolishing and building a new bridge...

I was imagining they would build the spans next to the right of way and then use a crane to lift them into place as one whole piece.

I still don’t know what to make of that giant concrete triangle on the southeast corner. Is that for skateboarders to do some sick tricks off of? Maybe an amphitheater for one? A living wall where all the plants were cut down because they died? A ramp for Evil Kanevel?

How come this new rendering from Clark Builders bears no resemblance to the preliminary designs submitted to the city?

Why is the park fenced off?

That’s not quite an apples to apples comparison. Urban LRT construction requires concrete track slabs, tight utility constraints, etc. Whereas intercity/regional rail would most likely use ballasted track. There is already a large talent pool working for/contracted by CN and CPKC...

That’s what the city says now, but I doubt it’ll ever get built. Fort Road and 50th are close enough. I doubt there will ever be the political appetite to spend the money on an overpass once the intersection has been closed for a decade or more and new traffic patterns establish themselves...