Canada has produced some great engineering work—it’s only fitting, seeing as our country is home to nature’s original engineer: the beaver!
The multidimensional terrain of Alberta transcends from flat Prairies in the east to the Canadian Rockies to the West. This unique landscape acts like a playground for the many skilled and talented engineers, architects and CAD designers working in this beautiful province.
While Alberta offers plenty of metropolitan spaces for architects and engineers to work in, including Calgary and Edmonton, resort areas like Banff located in the mountains, are quickly becoming hot spots for world tourists. Recently, engineers have been developing these areas, building structures that not only better showcase the beauty of the landscape, but improve functionality and accessibility for visitors who come to experience the mountain terrain.
Read on to discover what great engineering feats you can discover in the province of Alberta, Canada.
Peace Bridge, Calgary, Alberta
The Peace Bridge is one of the newest engineering feats to be completed in Alberta. Crossing the Bow River in Calgary, this pedestrian bridge was designed to accommodate nearly 6,000 commuters who walk or bike from the Sunnyside region in the north, to the downtown core.
Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the Peace Bridge was built with utility and long-lasting engineering in mind. A glass roof allows for light but helps protect the bridge from Calgary’s 100-year flood cycle. The glass roof is supported by a 650-metric-tonne steel helical structure. The double-helix design helps reinforce the bridge and uses less material than a typical box girder bridge. The Peace Bridge was ranked as one of 2012’s top 10 public spaces and is no doubt one of the greatest modern engineering feats in Alberta.
Glacier Skywalk, Jasper National Park
One of the most ambitious engineering projects ever undertaken in the Rocky’s, the Glacier Skywalk was opened just last year, in May 2014. This incredible cantilever cliff outlook was built by Canadian-based engineering consulting firm Read Jones Christofferson Engineering and consists of a 300m glass walking trail that hangs 280 metres above the Sunwapta Valley in Jasper National Park. The walkway is designed to require little maintenance, and to blend naturally with the environment— a technique student in CAD courses might keep in mind themselves when designing for outdoor spaces.
Read Jones Christofferson Engineering received the Award of Excellence at the Canadian Consulting Engineers Awards in 2014 for their incredible work on the Glacier Skywalk. Visitors to Jasper National Park can experience the Glacier Skywalk for one hour at a time, at a cost of $29.95 per visit.
100 Year Old Lethbridge Viaduct
The Lethbridge Viaduct, which is still in use today, was built in 1909 in Lethbridge, Alberta. This 1,624-metre railway bridge was designed and built by the Canadian Pacific Railway to efficiently cross the Oldman River, and to this day is the largest viaduct of its kind in the world. The bridge took 12,200 tons of steel and 17,090 cubic yards of concrete to build.
The highly successful Lethbridge Viaduct cost a mere $1,334,525 in total and took workers from 1907-1909 to complete. Put into perspective, the Peace Bridge in Calgary cost $25 million, and also took two years to build. Students at technical design school will agree that the Lethbridge Viaduct is no doubt one of the greatest engineering feats not only in Alberta but in the whole of Canada.
What kind of engineering projects would you like to work on in Alberta after completing your engineering training at Digital School?
