The Louise Bridge crosses the Bow River

Bow River

The Bow River is a river in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is a tributary of the South Saskatchewan River, and is considered the headwater of the Nelson River....

 in Calgary

Calgary

Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...

, Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

The bridge connects Downtown West End

Downtown West End, Calgary

The Downtown West End is a neighbourhood within the western portions of downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is bounded to the north by the Bow River, to the east by 9th Street W, to the south by the CPR Tracks and to the west by 14th Street W....

 with Memorial Drive

Memorial Drive (Calgary)

Memorial Drive is a major road in Calgary, Alberta. Besides having an important role in city infrastructure, the tree lined sides of Memorial Drive serve as a living testament to the many soldiers who died during World War I and give it a parkway look on the western section...

 and Kensington

Kensington, Calgary

Kensington is a Business Revitalization Zone in Calgary, Alberta, focused around the intersection of Kensington Road and 10th St. NW, also known as the Kensington-Louise Crossing Business Association. It resides primarily in the Hillhurst and Sunnyside neighbourhood, and successful marketing has...

. It is configured with reversible lane

Reversible lane

A reversible lane , called a counterflow lane or contraflow lane in transport engineering nomenclature, is a lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions...

s to accommodate higher traffic into Downtown

Downtown Calgary

Downtown Calgary is a region of central Calgary, Alberta. It is not a single neighbourhood per se, but is actually a larger community containing three neighbourhoods and a number of districts....

 during the early morning hours, and higher outbound traffic during the afternoon commute.

History

The bridge was built in 1921 and originally it carried street car and pedestrian traffic. It was named after Louise Cushing, daughter of William Henry Cushing

William Henry Cushing

William Henry Cushing was a Canadian politician. Born in Ontario, he migrated west as a young adult where he started a successful lumber company and later became Alberta's first Minister of Public Works and the 11th mayor of Calgary...

, Calgary mayor from 1900 to 1901.

The bridge was rehabilitated in 1997, with a design conceived by Simpson Roberts Wappel, at a cost of $5.1 million. It carries a daily traffic of 26,000 vehicles.

Design

The bridge is a reinforced concrete

Reinforced concrete

Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...

structure built on five wall arched spans. It has a length of 172 metres (564.3 ft), with each span measuring 32 metres (105 ft). The total width of the bridge is 19.6 metres (64.3 ft).