Three
bridges spanning the Athabasca River were built and the last one close to Fort
McMurray in Alberta, Canada became operational a few weeks earlier. These new
bridges have been made in the past few years in order to facilitate smoother
flow of traffic on Highway 63 going towards and around the city of oil sands.
The purpose of these bridges is to give residents better access to the downtown
area in Fort McMurray by creating a tripartite network to split the bigger
commercial vehicles from local commuter traffic seeking to go downtown.
The Grant MacEwan Bridge and the Franklin Tunnel will handle the traffic headed southbound across the river straight to the downtown area. There are two lanes in the newly-opened Grant MacEwan Bridge which has a clear span length of 456 meters. The new structure serves to take the place of the first bridge constructed in 1965.
Earlier in 2013, the Steinhauer Bridge, which runs parallel to the north, was also opened. The three lanes of the bridge transmit traffic that is bound for the south.
On the northern portion, the Athabasca River Bridge boasts of five lanes handling northbound traffic. This is the larger, heavy-duty bridge finished in 2011 that is capable of carrying vehicles that weigh 12 times over the standard weight. These are meant to bring the large equipment headed for the oil sands. With a bridge deck of 15,500 square meters, this bridge possesses the biggest bridge deck in Alberta. There were more than 500 superloads that weigh at least 180 metric tonnes in 2012 that utilized the Athabasca Bridge.
The Grant MacEwan Bridge and the Franklin Tunnel will handle the traffic headed southbound across the river straight to the downtown area. There are two lanes in the newly-opened Grant MacEwan Bridge which has a clear span length of 456 meters. The new structure serves to take the place of the first bridge constructed in 1965.
Earlier in 2013, the Steinhauer Bridge, which runs parallel to the north, was also opened. The three lanes of the bridge transmit traffic that is bound for the south.
On the northern portion, the Athabasca River Bridge boasts of five lanes handling northbound traffic. This is the larger, heavy-duty bridge finished in 2011 that is capable of carrying vehicles that weigh 12 times over the standard weight. These are meant to bring the large equipment headed for the oil sands. With a bridge deck of 15,500 square meters, this bridge possesses the biggest bridge deck in Alberta. There were more than 500 superloads that weigh at least 180 metric tonnes in 2012 that utilized the Athabasca Bridge.
The
three bridges cost $236 million.
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