A history of the Arlington Street Bridge - Part 2

© 2012, Christian Cassidy. Updated 2023.

This is a five part series on the history of Winnipeg's Arlington Street Bridge to commemorate the centenary of its opening on February 5, 1912.

Part 1: Spanning the Tracks
Part 2: Construction and Controversy
Part 3: The Bridge as "bugbear"
Part 4: What about the Nile River connection
Part 5: The Future of the Arlington Street Bridge
2023 UPDATE: End of the line for the Arlington Bridge?

Part 2: Construction and Controversy

Jan 27, 1910. Manitoba Free Press

McArthur's push for the immediate construction of the Brown and Brant Streets Overpass caused debate at the board of control.

It was claimed that some contractors felt that they did not not have enough time to properly study the plans before putting in their bid. Controllers were also worried about overextending themselves financially. If this rushed project went over budget, it would eat into numerous construction projects that they considered to be a higher priority.

Despite the cautions to leave the tendering of the overpass until the end of the year, Mayor William S. Evans, also a supporter of the project, charged ahead.

July 6, 1910. Manitoba Free Press.

In May 1910, the city called for tenders for the new bridge. It was divided into two parts:

a) The construction of concrete piers to be completed on or before the fifteenth day of November, 1910.

b) The erection of steel superstructure and floors, with two lines of street railway tracks, to be completed on or before the first day of June. 1911.

The winning bids were announced on July 5, 1910. They were both the lowest bids in their category. 

Local heavy construction contractor William Newman and Company was awarded $54,720 for the construction of the piers and the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company of Darlington, England was awarded $205,160 for the superstructure.

As construction got underway, the city continued planning for the new span.

Council changed the name of Brown and Brant Streets to Arlington Street in 1910. It wasn’t a ‘new’ name as that stretch of road was already called Arlington from its starting point at the Assiniboine River in Wolseley to Notre Dame Avenue.

This also changed the name of the Brown and Brant Streets Overpass to the Arlington Street Overpass, or more commonly known as the Arlington Bridge.

This didn't mean there would be confusion with the Arlington Bridge slated for Wolseley. Between 1906, when the Central Belt Line was first proposed, and the passing of the money bylaw in 1909, Wolseley had developed into a middle-class residential neighbourhood. There was little political or public will to now run a major highway though it. The "other" Arlington Street Bridge dropped off the agenda.

April 8, 1911, Manitoba Free Press

City Council decided to make the Arlington Bridge a “Bridge of Lights” and even put out a tender for the lighting of the structure. Numerous large, incandescent globes would hang from ornamental poles to make it a nighttime attraction.

The city also redrew the streetcar route map to create a new cross-town Arlington route that would extend from Portage Avenue to Mountain Avenue via the new Arlington Bridge.

It appears that the project stayed on budget but it was not on time.

The June 1911 deadline passed and it was still unfinished in November. Controller McArthur told colleagues that he received assurances that the final piece of steel would be swung into place that week and that the bridge would be open for Christmas.

Controversial and behind schedule, there was no fanfare on the day the bridge finally did opened to traffic on February 5, 1912. The only city official that showed up that morning appears to have been Controller McArthur.

An opening ceremony was postponed until the bridge lighting project was installed. Neither ever happened.

Alderman A. A. McArthur (The Voice, Dec. 4, 1908)

The lack of ornamental lighting was the least of the problems that the Arlington Bridge faced in its first years of operation. It certainly needed an ally to save its reputation but would soon lose its biggest booster.

Archibald McArthur ran for his fifth term as in the 1912 civic election scheduled for December 13.  Days before the election, he suffered what was likely a stroke while shoveling his sidewalk and never recovered. He won the election but died two days later.

Early Streetcar (Source)

The major selling point for the Arlington Street Bridge was that it would act as a second streetcar link to and from the North End. Streetcar workers, however, refused to take a streetcar across the bridge due to safety concerns related to its steep grade; 5 percent on the Dufferin Avenue side and 7 percent on the Logan Avenue side.

Streetcar workers called these gradients, particularly on the Logan Avenue side, "suicidal" to travel down given that there was a major intersection at the bottom of it. Should a person or vehicle be in the way, a streetcar would not be able to stop.

This touched off a long legal battle that involved the city, streetcar company and streetcar workers' union.

In 1916, the streetcar company bought lighter cars, fitted them with brake pads (something new to the market), and made provisions to have staff posted at the foot of each approach to manually signal traffic to stop and then give an "all clear" signal to the streetcar to descend.

When the employees were ordered to provide service, they threatened a strike and the sides were back at square one. The city and streetcar company had to work out a motor bus plan for the bridge.

The streetcar issue came up one last time in 1924 with the same result as in 1916. The tracks were removed by the streetcar company in 1926 to be used on an extension to its St. Anne's Road service.

Despite its main purpose to be a second streetcar link to and from the North End, no streetcar ever ran on the Arlington Street Bridge.

Part 3: The Bridge as Bugbear