CPR Yards Functional Design Crossing Study

Stantec was retained by the City of Winnipeg to complete a Functional Design Crossing Study over the CPR Yards located in North West Winnipeg.  The Yards were constructed in the late 1800s at the outer limits of the City.   Over one hundred years later, the Yards seem to divide the North End community of Winnipeg.  There are three existing crossings over the 5km long and 1km wide Yards, located along McPhillips, Arlington and Salter Streets.  

Purpose of the Study

The existing 37 span Arlington Street Bridge, constructed in 1912, is at the end of its functional life and is proposed to be decommissioned in approximately 5 years.  The intent of the study was to develop a cost effective functional transportation plan for the removal of the existing Arlington Street Bridge and a preliminary decommissioning plan for the existing Bridge.  Considering vehicular and active modes of transportation the transportation plan determined if and where a new crossing would be optimally located. The study addressed railway yard operations and coordination for the proposed decommissioning and new crossing construction.  The transportation plan considered current and estimated traffic volumes in 2031.  CPR was involved in the development of the decommissioning plan, which consisted of the removal of the spans in 6 - 10 hour track blocks via SPMT methods, as well as the new crossing concepts. The paper will discuss the plan in detail and how we addressed transportation and CPR requirements.