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BOW WATERS CANOE CLUB
PO BOX 85088, Albert Park P.O.
CALGARY, AB, T2A 7R7

NEWS:

New bridge across the Bow River near Lake Louis:  Parks Canada has been actively twinning the Trans Canada Highway (TCH) in Banff National Park. As part of this on-going program (and with funds provided through the Federal economic stimulus package), we are about to commence with construction of a new bridge across the Bow River just to the west of Lake Louise. Parks Canada refers to this site as the Km 76 bridge, or Bow west bridge; we paddlers refer to this site as the upper Bow take-out. This new TCH bridge will be located immediately (by this I mean so close that it is touching) downstream of the existing TCH bridge; the new bridge will be for east bound traffic, while the existing bridge will be solely for west bound traffic. Of particular relevance to us, the boating community, is what is going on underneath the bridge. I'm pleased to announce that the new bridge will retain the same navigation envelope (the open area for us to pass through) as the existing bridge; it will NOT be smaller, and in fact if anything will be a tiny bit more open.

Some measures will be taken to ensure the safety of the boating public during construction. To this end, pursuant to our own mandate, and also in support of the mandate of the Navigable Water Protection Directorate at Transport Canada, Parks Canada will exercise its power pursuant to the Canada National Parks Act to invoke temporary closure of boating on the Bow River at the TCH Km 76 project site and a suitable, short distance upstream and downstream. This closure will be invoked whenever there is any infringement of the normal navigation envelope, such as by partial or complete blockage of the river channel for the purpose of construction access (although very little if any of this is expected). Similarly, the closure will be invoked whenever construction activities might cause an increase in risk to the boating public, such as during driving of the piles and stringing of girders. Associated with this closure, Parks Canada commits to maintaining a suitable boater’s-take-out upstream of the bridge, land access to this take-out, and a portage route around the work site. Clear notice signs, boater notifications, sufficient lighting, and measures (such as buoys or other equally effective approaches) to direct boaters to the mandatory take-out and portage also will be implemented. But again to emphasize, this closure will be temporary, will be kept to as short a time frame as is practical, and will be for just the direct project site; Parks Canada (and I!) is keen to keep the river open for navigation as much as possible, in order to encourage use of our parks.

Fortunately, most of the implications to boating will occur when we boaters are not there anyway. I have just been informed that the contractor intends to start to drive piles in the river in about 3 to 4 weeks (late October to early November), and take about 4 weeks; this will likely require a closure of the river at the site. I suspect that none of us paddlers are likely to be running the upper Bow when it is so bony and the weather is so cold. If you are nuts enough to be going out during this period, let me know and I'll make double sure that allowances are made for your safe portage. I'm afraid that I don't yet know when the girders will be strung, but I can say that the bridge will be completed by the fall of 2010.

This project will have no implications to the upper Bow run itself.

N. John Olyslager
Senior Environmental Assessment Spet
Parks Canada
403-292-4775
JohnDotOlyslagerAtpcDotgcDotca