McAllister Pedestrian Bridge Replacement
2021-2025 | Port Coquitlam, British Columbia
The McAllister Pedestrian Bridge spans the Coquitlam River between Gates and Lions Parks and provides an important connection to Port Coquitlam’s Traboulay Trail network. The City of Port Coquitlam retained McElhanney to provide conceptual design, detailed design, and construction administration for a long-lasting signature structure that would replace the existing bridge while minimizing impacts on the environmentally sensitive river and surrounding area.
Working with VIA Architecture, McElhanney designed a low-maintenance 86 m clear span bridge featuring a timber fairing system to help the structure blend into its natural setting. The lighting design supports user safety and comfort while avoiding harsh light on the fish-sensitive river below. The design also responded to challenging site conditions, including liquefiable soils under seismic loading and the need to carefully plan bridge construction, lighting, and removal of the existing structure over a Class A watercourse.
McElhanney provided:
- Topographic survey and base plan preparation
- Conceptual and detailed engineering design
- Field review and overall design coordination
- Tender services, with construction and post-construction services planned as the bridge is built
Key challenges included incorporating aesthetic features while managing cost, designing for liquefiable soils under seismic loading, minimizing environmental impacts to the Coquitlam River, and developing a construction methodology that uses the existing bridge as falsework to assemble the new bridge. This approach supports a clear span design and avoids in-river construction.
