A New Bridge
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Athabasca Bridge, November 2014. Photo by Margaret Anderson.
Funding had yet to be announced, but in the December 4, 2012 Athabasca Advocate, Relocation Project Manager Dale Scrink, who spoke at an open house at the Multiplex in late November, was quoted as saying “Alberta Transportation is just trying to be proactive and develop a plan for the replacement of the bridge so that when the need is identified to replace it, they have everything… ready to go.” He went on to say, “I think the truck bypass route has brought up the occasional issues that people will have, but no one has any negative comments on what we have selected.” Alberta Transportation had determined that a new bridge should be located very close to the current bridge. They considered several options and according to Scrink, they took into account environmental impact, impact on land use, traffic flow and the impact on local landowners.
The funding announcement made in the 2017 Alberta budget speech was welcome news for local provincial and municipal politicians alike. In 2017 a decision by town and county councils regarding whether utilities such as water lines should be included in the design of the bridge became the next item of concern. Who would pay the added costs estimated to reach $800,000? Was a sidewalk to be included in the design?
By January of 2018 the design work for the new bridge was 50% completed and the project was expected to go to tender by the end of the year. Town and County councils agreed that there would be a sidewalk. In the Athabasca Advocate of January 30, 2018 Athabasca County Reeve Doris Splane spoke about the increased safety and said she had crossed the Athabasca Bridge on foot and having a sidewalk included in the new bridge “is just going to be remarkable. We do have a number of pedestrians that use it, believe it or not.”
Pedestrian access on the old Athabasca Bridge was never in the plan. A foggy day on September 1, 2019. Photo by April Thompson
In November of 2019, the Alberta government announced that they would spend $4.4 billion to build and repair Alberta’s highways across the province – $42 million of which was earmarked to build a new bridge at Athabasca. Land had been purchased from the Athabasca Golf and Country Club to allow realignment of the north approach. The bridge would be at a slightly different angle than the old one. The design stage was nearing completion, but timelines for construction could not be determined until a contract was awarded.
Detail of the Alberta Government’s aerial view of the approach and span of the proposed Athabasca River Bridge and the old bridge. Athabasca Advocate, December 4, 2019.
Viewed from the river, the berm on the old bridge and the new bridge pillars. Photograph by Darcy Zelman.
By early December 2019, stability and environmental testing were underway. Consultation with indigenous groups whose traditional areas fell within 50 km of the project had been carried out between 2012 and 2018. The project would include the removal of the old bridge according to the application on the Government of Canada website. It was necessary for the federal government to be involved because the project involved a body of water.
The Athabasca Watershed Council supported the need for a new bridge but had concerns with the temporary berms which had to be created for the construction of the pillars – that they might cause flooding during breakup, that they would affect the velocity of the water and therefore spawning and foraging migration of fish, and that they would create eddies downstream where sediments would collect and bury fish spawning and rearing habitat. Wayne Wood, communications advisor with Alberta Transportation, indicated that the “materials used for the berm will be comprised of non-granular or high plastic materials such as clay and will be armoured with heavy rock.” He added that any changes a contractor made would face Alberta Transportation review and possibly review by the Canadian government's Department of Fish and Oceans.
The tender process was scheduled to close January 27, 2022 and the hope was that the construction would begin in the spring of 2022 with completion of the project in 2025. The Alberta Government, in a news release dated May 4, 2022, stated:
"A 72-year-old bridge in the Town of Athabasca is being replaced with a new, $70-million structure.
Alberta-based Alberco Construction Ltd. will begin work in late summer. The project will support more than 400 jobs during construction."
Rajan Sawhney, Minister of Transportation, said, "The existing bridge is old, too narrow and has served its useful life. The new bridge will support economic development, improvements to safety and commuter traffic in and around Athabasca, and provide a connection for area Indigenous communities."
"The Athabasca community has looked forward to this bridge replacement for many years. Thank you to Minister Sawhney for ensuring this project will be built. My constituents, as well as industry stakeholders, look forward to the improved safety and opportunity the new bridge will deliver." Glenn van Dijken, MLA for Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock
"The awarding of the contract and construction of the new bridge is fantastic news for the Town of Athabasca, Athabasca County and the entire region. It’s been a long time coming and the news that the project will commence starting this fall is very welcoming. Thank you to Premier Kenney and Transportation Minister Sawhney for helping make this long-awaited project a reality." Robert Balay, Mayor, Town of Athabasca
"The existing bridge will remain in place until the new bridge opens. The new bridge, which will be north of the existing bridge, will include a pedestrian sidewalk and one kilometre of road realignment.
With the contract in place, the contractor is expected to finalize supplier contracts and material delivery before construction starts later this summer.
Quick facts
- The existing bridge spanning the Athabasca River was built in 1952 and includes a wooden plank bridge deck.
- Design, utility relocations and right-of-way acquisition were completed between 2017 and 2022.
- The new bridge is expected to open to traffic in 2025.
- The new bridge will include:
- Two 3.7-metre-wide lanes with 1.8-metre-wide shoulders on either side,
- A 2.5-metre sidewalk on the south side of the bridge."
Town and Country This Week, Athabasca Advocate, May 10, 2022.
Viewed from the north bank of the Athabasca River, construction begins for the new bridge approach. Photograph by Colleen Haubrich.
August 23, 2022 saw “shovels in the ground”. Speed restrictions were set up on Highway 813. Detours were put in place and the old bridge was topped with wooden rig mats – a considerable improvement over loose planks. Traffic lights were set up and one-way traffic put in place as work on the new bridge required that the east end (town end) be narrowed to allow space to work on the new site.
Travellers sitting at stop lights watched trucks hauling clay from the hills behind Home Hardware down to the river to create a berm which would allow the first piling to be created. Then watched the trucks haul the clay back up the hill. Then haul the clay to the other end of the bridge for another berm for a second piling. Then haul the clay back up the hill. Soon, the bridge itself started taking form.
Taken from a helicopter, an overview of the bridge construction in progress. Photo by Laurie Bonell.
Under pressure from the town, the detour on the west end of the bridge was paved as part of the project. It would eventually become the service road from the top of the hill accessing the Lion’s campground, Rock Solid Concrete Products, the Athabasca Regional Waste site and Lion’s Centennial Park. Unfortunately, in the view of those travelling this route often, the town end of the detour was NOT paved and seemed to be always either rough and dusty, or rough and slippery.
Photo by Rory Couturier.
The discovery of an Ice Age fossil during excavation in May of 2023 made headlines. Heavy equipment operator Rory Couturier found a horn core from an Ice Age bison described as an extremely rare find for northeastern Alberta. Dr. Paul McNeil had been monitoring the project as a pre-construction visit to analyze the site showed some potential for finding fossils of that era in the deposits above the Athabasca River. After being catalogued at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, the horn core will be placed in the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton. Dr. McNeil suspects the fossil is about 11,000 years old from a predecessor to modern-day bison.
The new approach to the bridge from the north was completed quickly. Building the approach from the town end did not go as smoothly. Throughout 2024 and 2025 piles of gravel and rocks were moved in and moved out. Portions of the road were built, packed and ripped out. Construction of retaining walls with weeping tile behind them was necessary to stabilize the slope. To be fair, the winter of 2025-2026 provided several feet of snow and the following spring and summer several inches of rain and work stalled for some time until a new contractor appeared in the spring of 2026.
One way traffic oncoming from the west side of the old bridge. Photo by Colleen Haubrich.
The crew from Rock Solid Concrete works into the night paving the new bridge deck. Photo by Rock Solid Concrete.
The summer of 2026 saw detours made in detours. Work continued through the summer and the opening date became a moving target – August, September, October? On October 19, 2026, general foreman Rory Couturier’s Facebook post broke the news that at 1:00 p.m. traffic would be able to cross the new bridge. The news spread quickly and no doubt many unnecessary trips were made into (and out of) town that day! Rumour has it that an official opening celebration may happen in 2027.
Linda and Margaret at Athabasca Archives sincerely thank our supporters for sharing their photos and stories for this series of articles about river crossings and the Athabasca Bridges.
Photo credits from left to right, Linda Doroshenko, Colleen Haubrich, Colleen Haubrich and Rock Solid Concrete.