Lions Gate Bridge National Historic Site of Canada
Designated
March 24, 2005
Referenceno.
11711
Location
The Lions Gate Bridge, opened in 1938 and officially known as the First Narrows Bridge,[1] is a suspension bridge that crosses the first narrows of Burrard Inlet and connects the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, to the North Shore municipalities of the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, and West Vancouver. The term "Lions Gate" refers to the Lions, a pair of mountain peaks north of Vancouver. Northbound traffic on the bridge heads in their general direction. A pair of cast concrete lions, designed by sculptor Charles Marega, were placed on either side of the south approach to the bridge in January 1939.[2]
The total length of the bridge including the north viaduct is 1,823 metres (5,981ft). The length including approach spans is 1,517.3 metres (4,978ft), the main span alone is 473 metres (1,552ft), the tower height is 111 metres (364ft), and it has a ship's clearance of 61 metres (200ft). Prospect Point in Stanley Park offered a good high south end to the bridge, but the low flat delta land to the north required construction of the extensive North Viaduct.
The bridge has three lanes, with the middle being a reversible lane indicated by signals. The centre lane changes direction to accommodate for traffic patterns. The traffic volume on the bridge is 60,000–70,000 vehicles per day. Trucks exceeding 13 tonnes (12.8 long tons; 14.3 short tons) are prohibited, as are vehicles using studded tires. The bridge forms part of Highways 99 and 1A.
Signing the First Narrows Bridge agreement, May 1934Lions Gate Bridge under construction, 1938
In 1890, land speculator George Grant Mackay wrote in the local paper that he foresaw a bridge over the first narrows.[4] The First Narrows ferry operated between Ambleside and Gastown from 1909 to 1947.[5] The decision on whether to build the bridge was put to the electorate of Vancouver in 1927, but the first plebiscite was defeated and the idea was put to rest for the time being.[6]
Alfred James Towle Taylor, an engineer with a land interest in the construction of the bridge, worked to overcome local opposition to its construction.[7] Taylor was able to convince Walter Guinness of the Guinness family (of the Irish stout fame) to invest in the land on the north shore of Burrard Inlet. They purchased 1,902 hectares (4,700 acres) of West Vancouver mountainside through a syndicate called British Pacific Properties Ltd.[8][9]
On December 13, 1933, a second plebiscite was held, passing with 70 percent in favour.[10][11] After considerable further negotiations with the federal government, approval was finally granted, with the requirement that Vancouver materials and workmen be used as much as possible to provide employment during the Great Depression. The 1933 bylaw authorizing construction included a provision mandating that "no Asiatic person shall be employed in or upon any part of the undertaking or other works".[12]
Construction began on March 31, 1937. After one and a half years and a cost of CA$5,873,837, the bridge opened to traffic on November 14, 1938.[15] On May 29, 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth presided over the official opening during a royal visit to Canada.[16][17] A toll of 25 cents was charged for each car or horse and carriage; five cents was charged for pedestrians or bicycles.[18]
The bridge was built with two lanes, but a third reversible lane was added on May 19, 1952, to add capacity during peak periods in the peak direction.[19] The system cost $18,000 and was controlled with signs to indicate when the reversible centre lane was opened to traffic.[20][21]
On January 20, 1955, the Guinness family sold the bridge to the province of British Columbia for $5,873,837–the cost of the original construction.[22][23] The government also considered plans to build a parallel span, which was estimated to cost $17million in 1954,[24] but these were shelved in favour of moving forward with the construction of the Second Narrows Bridge farther east up the Burrard Inlet and improving the existing Lions Gate Bridge.[25]
A partial cloverleaf interchange was built in 1956 at Marine Way, located at the end of the bridge's north approach, and was followed by a new bridge over the Capilano River to address congestion issues.[25][26]
The toll instituted by the Guinness family remained on the Lions Gate Bridge until April 1, 1963, as part of the provincial government's toll removal scheme for several bridges. The toll plaza at the north end of the bridge was later demolished.[27]
In 1965, the centre lane controls were replaced with traffic signals.[28][29]
In 1975, the deteriorating original concrete deck of the North Viaduct was replaced with a lighter, wider, and stronger steel orthotropic deck with wider lanes. This was carried out in sections using a series of short closures of the bridge; each time, one old section was lowered from the bridge and its replacement was put into place.[30]
In 1986, the Guinness family, as a gift to Vancouver, purchased decorative lights that make it a distinctive nighttime landmark.[31] The 170 lights were designed and installed by British engineer Ian Hayward and first lit up on February 19 of that year.[32][33][34]
In 1994, a new counterflow system was introduced to the bridge to reduce congestion.[35]
From September 2000 to September 2001, the replacement of the entire suspended structure of the original suspension bridge was undertaken without interruption of peak-hour traffic–the first time an entire suspended structure of a major suspension bridge was replaced while in daily use.[36] As with the 1975 replacement work, this was facilitated by a series of separate nighttime and weekend closures to replace one section at a time. The old suspended section was lowered to a barge, and the new lighter and wider orthotropic deck section raised into place and connected. A total of 47 sections were used before being paved.[37] The new deck was designed with the two pedestrian walkways cantilevered to the outside of the suspension cables and the three road lanes widened from 3 to 3.6 metres (10 to 12ft) each. As a result of the 2001 replacement, the 63-year-old suspension bridge, which was described as "not designed for durability", had its lifespan extended.[38]
In July 2009, the bridge's lighting system was updated with new LED lights to replace its system of 100-watt mercury vapour bulbs. The switch to LEDs was expected to reduce power consumption on the bridge by 90 percent and save the provincial government about $30,000 a year in energy and maintenance costs.[39]
In 2020, a project to decrease the likelihood of a boat accident was completed.[40]
In May 2022, a project to replace the lane control signals with new LED ones was completed.[41]
In late 2023, the northern approach was repaved.[41]
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula—to Marin County, carrying both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait. It also carries pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and is designated as part of U.S. Bicycle Route 95. Recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Wonders of the Modern World, the bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California.
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a pair of twin suspension bridges that span the Tacoma Narrows strait of Puget Sound in Pierce County, Washington. The bridges connect the city of Tacoma with the Kitsap Peninsula and carry State Route 16 over the strait. Historically, the name "Tacoma Narrows Bridge" has applied to the original bridge, nicknamed "Galloping Gertie", which opened in July 1940 but collapsed possibly because of aeroelastic flutter four months later, as well as to the successor of that bridge, which opened in 1950 and still stands today as the westbound lanes of the present-day two-bridge complex.
The Throgs Neck Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City, carrying six lanes of Interstate 295 (I-295) over the East River where it meets the Long Island Sound. The bridge connects the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx with the Bay Terrace section of Queens.
The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, also referred to as the Narrows Bridge, the Verrazzano Bridge, and simply the Verrazzano, is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It is the only fixed crossing of the Narrows. The double-deck bridge carries 13 lanes of Interstate 278: seven on the upper level and six on the lower level. The span is named for Giovanni da Verrazzano, who in 1524 was the first European explorer to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River.
The 1940 Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the first bridge at this location, was a suspension bridge in the U.S. state of Washington that spanned the Tacoma Narrows strait of Puget Sound between Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula. It opened to traffic on July 1, 1940, and dramatically collapsed into Puget Sound on November 7 of the same year. The bridge's collapse has been described as "spectacular" and in subsequent decades "has attracted the attention of engineers, physicists, and mathematicians". Throughout its short existence, it was the world's third-longest suspension bridge by main span, behind the Golden Gate Bridge and the George Washington Bridge.
The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, also called the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge and Second Narrows Bridge, is the second bridge constructed at the Second (east) Narrows of Burrard Inlet in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Originally named the Second Narrows Bridge, it connects Vancouver to the North Shore of Burrard Inlet, which includes the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, and West Vancouver. It was constructed adjacent to the older Second Narrows Bridge, which is now exclusively a rail bridge. Its construction, from 1956 to 1960, was marred by a multi-death collapse on June 17, 1958. The First Narrows Bridge, better known as Lions Gate Bridge, crosses Burrard Inlet about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of the Second Narrows.
The Second Narrows Rail Bridge is a vertical-lift railway bridge that crosses the Burrard Inlet and connects Vancouver with the North Shore. The bridge's south end connects directly to the Thornton Tunnel, which connects it to the main Canadian rail network. As the name suggests, it is located at the second narrowing of the Burrard Inlet.
Highway 99 is a provincial highway in British Columbia that runs 377 kilometres (234 mi) from the U.S. border to near Cache Creek, serving Greater Vancouver and the Squamish–Lillooet corridor. It is a major north–south artery within Vancouver and connects the city to several suburbs as well as the U.S. border, where it continues south as Interstate 5. The central section of the route, also known as the Sea to Sky Highway, serves the communities of Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton. Highway 99 continues through Lillooet and ends at a junction with Highway 97 near Cache Creek.
The Bronx–Whitestone Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City, carrying six lanes of Interstate 678 over the East River. The bridge connects Throggs Neck and Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, on the East River's northern shore, with the Whitestone neighborhood of Queens on the southern shore.
Burrard Inlet is a shallow-sided fjord in the northwestern Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada. Formed during the last Ice Age, it separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the lowland Burrard Peninsula to the south from the coastal slopes of the North Shore Mountains, which span West Vancouver and the City and District of North Vancouver to the north.
The District of North Vancouver is a district municipality in British Columbia, Canada, situated north of the city of Vancouver across the Burrard Inlet. It surrounds the respective City of North Vancouver on three sides, and the remaining fellow North Shore municipality of West Vancouver on the other, and is part of the Metro Vancouver Regional District.
The Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is a suspension bridge crossing Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada; it opened on April 2, 1955.
The A. Murray MacKay Bridge, known locally as "the new bridge", is a suspension bridge linking the Halifax Peninsula with Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and opened on July 10, 1970. It is one of two suspension bridges crossing Halifax Harbour. Its counterpart, the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge, was completed in 1955. The bridge carries on average 52,000 vehicle crossings per day, and is part of Nova Scotia Highway 111.
The Burrard Street Bridge is a four-lane, Art Deco style, steel truss bridge constructed in 1930–1932 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The high, five part bridge on four piers spans False Creek, connecting downtown Vancouver with Kitsilano via connections to Burrard Street on both ends. It is one of three bridges crossing False Creek. The other two bridges are the Granville Bridge, three blocks or 0.5 km (0.31 mi) to the southeast, and the Cambie Street Bridge, about 11 blocks or 2 km (1.2 mi) to the east. In addition to the vehicle deck, the Burrard Bridge has 2.6 m wide sidewalks and a dedicated cycling lanes on both sides.
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An orthotropic bridge or orthotropic deck is typically one whose fabricated deck consists of a structural steel deck plate stiffened either longitudinally with ribs or transversely, or in both directions. This allows the fabricated deck both to directly bear vehicular loads and to contribute to the bridge structure's overall load-bearing behaviour. The orthotropic deck may be integral with or supported on a grid of deck framing members, such as transverse floor beams and longitudinal girders. All these various choices for the stiffening elements, e.g., ribs, floor beams and main girders, can be interchanged, resulting in a great variety of orthotropic panels.
Georgia Street is an east–west street in the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Its section in Downtown Vancouver, designated West Georgia Street, serves as one of the primary streets for the financial and central business districts, and is the major transportation corridor connecting downtown Vancouver with the North Shore by way of the Lions Gate Bridge. The remainder of the street, known as East Georgia Street between Main Street and Boundary Road and simply Georgia Street within Burnaby, is more residential in character, and is discontinuous at several points.
The 1950 Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a suspension bridge in the U.S. state of Washington that carries the westbound lanes of Washington State Route 16 across the Tacoma Narrows strait, between the city of Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula. Opened on October 14, 1950, it was built in the same location as the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which collapsed due to a windstorm on November 7, 1940. It is the older of the twin bridges that make up the Tacoma Narrows Bridge crossing of the Tacoma Narrows, and carried both directions of traffic across the strait until 2007. At the time of its construction, the bridge was, like its predecessor, the third-longest suspension bridge in the world in terms of main span length, behind the Golden Gate Bridge and George Washington Bridge; it is now the 46th longest suspension bridge in the world.
Buckland & Taylor Ltd. was a Canadian structural engineering firm specializing in bridge design and also research and building code development. It was founded in 1972 by Peter G. Buckland and Peter R. Taylor. Both had had experience with the design of major bridges. The firm continued until it was merged into COWI North America, a subsidiary of COWI A/S of Denmark, in 2015.
↑ Buckland, Peter G. (1981). "The Lions' Gate Bridge – renovation". Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering. 8 (4). Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 1981, 8(4): 484–508: 484–508. doi:10.1139/l81-063. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
↑ Buckland, Peter G.; Matson, Darryl (September 2003). "The reconstructed Lions' Gate suspension bridge, Vancouver". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Bridge Engineering. 156 (3): 125–133. doi:10.1680/bren.2003.156.3.125. ISSN1478-4637. Retrieved August 1, 2020. A 60-year-old suspension bridge, not designed for durability, was given a new lease of life, safety was improved, both structural and traffic-wise, and maintenance was reduced, by the replacement of the entire suspended structure without interruption of peak-hour traffic. It is the first time such an operation has been performed at this scale.
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Highway 1A / Highway 99, pedestrians and bicycles
