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The panels are held up by 162 individual steel cables anchored to a concrete abutment on each riverbank and supported in the river by two piers. The walking deck will gently drape between the piers and abutment.

Photo by Ryan Wellicome Wellicome, Ryan

Construction of the bridge is on time and on budget, and scheduled for completion in the fall.

Edmonton will be one of only two Canadian cities that have constructed this type of bridge. It will be the second-longest stressed-ribbon footbridge in the world after one in Escondido, Calif., but Marchak believes Edmonton will have the widest one of its kind.

The Terwillegar footbridge is 262 metres long, or just slightly over the length of two football fields.

“That’s really quite incredible. We’ve had a lot of visitors both from across Canada and the United States to see how this has gone in,” Marchak said.

The $24.5-million bridge will connect pedestrians and cyclists in Terwillegar Park to River Valley Oleskiw on the north side of the river.

“What council was really after when they approved this project was really about improving people’s access and connectivity to the river valley. This gives access to more and more people. It opens up the river valley to people who live in the south all the way through to the north.”

In 2013, the city received $72.9 million in funding from the provincial and federal governments, through the regional arm’s-length organization the River Valley Alliance, for five river valley access projects. The city contributed $1.7 million. Some of those projects include the Terwillegar Park Footbridge, a funicular, five kilometres of new trails in the west end, 14 kilometres in the east end, three boat launches and seven docks.

The Terwillegar Footbridge is one of the last pieces needed to create a continuous river valley pathway from Devon to Fort Saskatchewan.

“This bridge is a key part of connecting to the south all the way through the Anthony Henday and the existing City of Edmonton trails to the north through Oleskiw Park to the Fort Edmonton Footbridge, which will connect into the balance of the river valley park system,” said Larry Wall, executive director of the River Valley Alliance.

bmah@postmedia.com

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