Souris Swinging Bridge

When floodwaters rose quickly in 2011, the town of Souris, Manitoba elected to cut their treasured swinging footbridge loose from its moorings, sacrificing the structure to save the banks of the river. It was a heartbreaking decision, but it had to be done to save the river foundations. 

The Town of Souris Council and residents were eager to have their swinging bridge rebuilt. With flood events increasing in severity and frequency, our engineers designed a bridge to accommodate this reality—although we cannot predict the future, we can plan for higher than average flood events. The bridge design is approximately 1.7 metres higher than the previous bridge, and it is founded on a total length of approximately 1.5 kilometres of steel H-piles and soil anchors for stability. Because the town also wanted to hold onto their thrill-seeking attraction, we designed to span 184 meters. It is the longest suspension pedestrian bridge in Canada. Lighting, movements and vibrations were taken into account, allowing people to cross the river day or night and still feel safe.

Another feature of the new bridge? It’s fully accessible—everyone with all abilities the can cross the river. The coolest part of it all, though, is that the Souris Bridge is now the longest suspension bridge in all of Canada.