Bridging the Biggest River
The Deh Cho Bridge near Fort Providence is the only bridge to straddle Canada’s biggest river, the Mackenzie. It’s twice as long as any other bridge in Northern Canada. It was also the costliest piece of infrastructure in territorial history, with a price tag of $202 million. Here’s how the bridge adds up:
1.045: Length, in metres
70: Speed limit, in kilometres per hour
0:54: Time, in minutes and seconds, motorists driving at the speed limit spend on the bridge
2:18: Time, in minutes and seconds, Kenyan runner Noah Ngeny, who holds the 1,000-metre world record, would spend on it
1: Number of cattle grates to keep bison off
150,000: Vehicles the bridge carries per year
54: Months it was under construction
100.22: Height, in feet, of the bridge above the river
99,846,000: Weight, in pounds, of the bridge
6: Multiple by which it exceeds the weight of every person in Canada’s territories
48: Number of “Super B” tanker trucks it can carry at once
8: Number of piers supporting it
10: Depth, in metres, each pier extends below the river surface
1.2: Metres the bridge can expand and contract due to temperature
75: Estimated lifespan of the bridge, in years
2087: Year a new bridge will thus need to be replaced
