livinghistory
Frank Sherring asked the province for necessary funds in
the provincial budget for a second traffic bridge over the
river. The bridge was suggested again in 1964.
Initial concepts envisaged a road leaving Highway 3 in
West Lethbridge to cross the river by a bridge opposite Fourth
Avenue South. However, because of west side development
and the placement of the university, a bridge further south
made more sense, and on the west side, Whoop-Up Drive
connected with the neighbourhood boundary roads that
surrounded the various subdivisions of West Lethbridge.
Additionally, it joined University Drive, the west side’s main
north-south traffic corridor, which joined Highway 3 at the
Picture Butte exchange.
the bridge “so that he may be in a position to do everything
in his power to get this bridge in the interests of the people
of Lethbridge.”
The February 5, 1914, Lethbridge Herald explained why
this bridge was necessary: “people are now compelled to
travel many miles out of their way…to do their business.”
The fight for this other bridge has continued on and off
for decades, and in a February 6, 1978, Lethbridge Herald
letter to the editor, Alice Anderson wrote of the need
for the bridge and the struggle to get it built: “After 40
years residents are still waiting for a bridge over which to
transport hundreds of thousands of tons annually of food
stuffs…which must be hauled to the market.”
While the city waited 85 years between the
building of the Highway 3 and Whoop-Up Drive
bridges, this certainly isn’t the longest a community
has waited for and fought to get a bridge.
When the Whoop-Up Drive Bridge was first built, it
was only half the bridge we know today. The eastbound
portion was built first and was joined by the westbound
half about a decade later. The walking bridge, also called
Coalbanks Crossing, opened in September 2000, and
provides safe walking and biking access between East and
West Lethbridge.
Almost as soon as it was completed, residents were
asking when a third bridge would be constructed, and, of
course, where it should be located. Historical maps of West
Lethbridge from the 1980s show “Chinook Trail” and a
bridge crossing the river on the east side near 20th Avenue
South, but Lethbridge has grown and changed since that
idea was proposed. But how long will residents wait before
a third bridge is added?
While the city waited 85 years between the building of
the Highway 3 and Whoop-Up Drive bridges, this certainly
isn’t the longest a community has waited for and fought to
get a bridge.
Records show that the request for a bridge in another
area of our city has been periodically lobbied for, for
what will be over a century now. The Lethbridge Board of
Trade, now Chamber of Commerce, supported the appeal
for this bridge as early as 1911, and rallied both city and
rural MLAs to get behind the project. The November 3,
1911, Lethbridge Herald noted that Hon. A.J. McLean had
“already recommended the construction of the bridge,
although there is some difficulty about the exact location,”
and that Dr. Stewart, later General Stewart, MLA for
Lethbridge, had requested all documentation related to
What bridge is it that people have been pursuing on and
off for over a century to no avail? The bridge desired decade
after decade is one north of the city across the Oldman River
to access Picture Butte and area. In the early 20th century,
the push was for a traffic bridge across to Diamond City.
By the 1930s, the proposed idea was to have the bridge go
straight north to access Picture Butte.
As the crow flies, Picture Butte and the area on the north
side of the Oldman River are very close to Lethbridge, but
with no straight bridge access, residents have had to, for
over 100 years, travel circuitous routes either around past
West Lethbridge or over the Nolan Bridge and through
Coaldale.
While there are people who would love to see this bridge
built, when residents of Lethbridge talk of a third bridge,
they are thinking of one that would join east and west sides
in the south end of the city. But when will that bridge be
constructed and, when it is, where will it finally be located?
Certainly looking back at some of the discussions and
challenges that went into the construction of the WhoopUp Drive Bridge gives us some idea of the magn