The historic Zoo Bridge on 12 Street S.E. has been a Calgary staple for more than 100 years, so a proper goodbye was in order.
A celebration was held Saturday to allow Calgarians a chance to bid farewell to a piece of history.
The bridge was built in 1908 and many showed up to share special memories and stories about it.
“This is built for horse and buggy. We didn’t anticipate having semi trucks, concrete trucks going over it,” Katherine Hikita, structural engineer with the City of Calgary, said. “It’s quite the feat of engineering to last 110 yrs. Now we design our bridge to last 100 years over rivers. It’s well exceeded its life. It’s done a great service to the city of Calgary.”
The city said it’ll be ready to take the iconic bridge down in about a month. It’s planning on removing some parts of the old 12 Street Zoo Bridge to be incorporated into the new structure.
The new bridge will be flood resistant and able to accommodate two lanes of traffic.
READ MORE: 12 Street Zoo Bridge will be torn down earlier than expected
The project, which will be completed by December 2017 and will cost an estimated $19 million.
The city said removal of the old bridge will not impact the construction schedule of the new bridge. The new 12 Street S.E. Bridge and Zoo Road will both be open in late 2017, as planned.
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