Fredericton Railway Bridge
Fredericton Railway Bridge | |
|---|---|
The Fredericton Railway Bridge, now called the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge. | |
| Coordinates | 45°57′26″N 66°37′43″W / 45.9572°N 66.6287°W |
| Carries | Pedestrians and cyclists |
| Crosses | Saint John River |
| Locale | Fredericton, New Brunswick |
| Official name | Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Steel truss |
| Total length | 581 metres (1,906 ft) |
| Clearance above | 7.6 metres (24 ft 11 in) |
| History | |
| Construction start | 1887 |
| Opened | 1889 |
| Closed | 1996 (trains); pedestrian use began the following year |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | Not reported |
| Location | |
The Fredericton Railway Bridge is a former railway bridge in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada now used to carry pedestrians and cyclists.
It crosses the Saint John River from the east end of Fredericton's central business district on the west bank of the river to the former community of South Devon (amalgamated into Fredericton in 1945) on the east bank.
Since 1997, it has been used as a pedestrian bridge and is part of the Sentier NB Trail system and also part of the Trans Canada Trail. Fredericton claims it is the "world's longest walking bridge."
On June 7, 2008, the bridge was renamed the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge, after a founder of the Fredericton Trail System. As of 2018, over 600,000 users cross the bridge every year.
In 2022 the bridge became the start point of the “Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge parkrun” which is a 5 km event which takes place weekly on a Saturday utilising the bridge and the South Riverfront trail.