St. Patrick’s Island Pedestrian Bridge

Reminiscent of a stone skipping across the Bow — the graceful design of the connector is the brainchild of RFR, an architectural design firm based in Paris, France. In 2009, CMLC conducted an international design competition that netted 33 responses with the final design being guided by the collective input of more than 2,000 Calgarian’s.

The bridge provides a link to both the north and south banks for the Bow River as well as access to St. Patrick’s Island. Unique and complex, this structure is 184m long and with three steel tied arches reaching heights of over 14m above the cast-in-place concrete deck. Architectural components include site furnishings and a distinctive LED lighting system under the bridge and within in the handrail. The design of the bridge required Graham to complete detailed construction sequencing drawings and erection plans to outline construction methods from the erection of the arches through the phasing of the concrete deck pours and the transfer of loads to the arch cable system.

After the devastating flood of June 2013, progress on the new St. Patrick’s Bridge for CMLC came to a halt. After four years of planning and construction, the ambitious infrastructure program in the east end of Calgary’s core was just three months away from opening. The floodwaters tore away the bridge deck and added one more year to the construction schedule. The Graham team made a remarkable recovery in the face of this set back and worked together to bring this project to completion.