Mistissini Wooden Bridge

The Cree Nation of Mistissini wanted a new bridge to help them cross the Uupaachikus Pass and reach the land west of the village. Two objectives lay behind the construction of such a structure: access to a larger territory in response to the Cree Community’s population growth, and access to a large gravel pit in order to meet the increasing demand for granular materials used in the community’s construction projects. The project also included the creation of an access road to the gravel pit and extension of Main Street to the new bridge.

The structure had to satisfy a number of the community’s needs and features, while supporting the passage of heavy vehicles. It needed to offer two traffic lanes, a sidewalk, and a safety fence to prevent falls. It also had to accommodate the passage of seaplanes under the structure, illuminate river piers for boating safety, and facilitate bridge maintenance by local labour.

In 2011, with hydraulic, geotechnical, and environmental studies completed, the Cree Community invited engineering firms to propose a design for the new bridge. Familiar with the initial design, which called for a steel and concrete bridge, the Stantec team demonstrated that a wooden bridge
could also meet—indeed exceed—the client’s technical, ecological, aesthetic, and budgetary requirements.

Thanks to the community’s openness, Stantec’s team designed a new, 160-metre-long glue-laminated (glulam) wood beam semi-continuous arched structure. The structure comprised four continuous wooden spans combining straight girders and arches in wood. The latter were added inside each span in order to minimize the effects of the interior spans and lend an important archi- tectural aspect to the design.

Inaugurated in November 2014, this is one of Canada’s longest wooden bridges.