William R. Bennett Bridge

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This article or section contains information about a bridge currently under construction.
It may contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as construction progresses and new information becomes available.

Okanagan Lake Bridge
Construction of the roadway towers on pontoon #2, June 2006
Official name	William R. Bennett Bridge
Carries	Motor vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles
Crosses	Okanagan Lake
Locale	Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Maintained by	SNC-Lavalin Inc.
Design	Pontoon bridge
Longest span	44 meters
Clearance below	18 meters
AADT	50,000 vehicles
Opening date	2008

The William R. Bennett Bridge is under construction in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Scheduled to be completed in 2008, the bridge will replace the older Okanagan Lake Bridge built in 1958 to link downtown Kelowna to the west side of Okanagan Lake.

On April 21, 2005, premier Gordon Campbell officially renamed the bridge from the Okanagan Lake Bridge to William R. Bennett Bridge in honour of former Premier William Richards Bennett, a native of Kelowna.

1 Construction budget
2 Construction schedule
3 Bridge facts
4 Gallery
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Construction budget

The first press release from the BC Ministry of Transportation to include budget information was in 2003. At that time, the project was estimated to cost $100 million CAD for the bridge and another $20 million CAD for the two interchange upgrades on the west side of the lake.^[1]

By June 29, 2005, the cost of the bridge was increased from the previous estimate of $100 million CAD to $144 million CAD "due to dramatic increases in the cost of construction materials and labour", which includes significant increases in the cost of concrete, steel, and fuel. Over the next 30 years, the province of British Columbia expects to pay SNC-Lavalin a total of $179 million CAD "to design, build, finance, operate, maintain and rehabilitate the bridge".^[2]

[edit] Construction schedule

June 2005: SNC-Lavalin Inc. is chosen to design, build, finance and operate the new bridge
July 2005: Construction begins on a dry dock near Bear Creek Provincial Park, where the bridge pontoons will be built
Q3 2005: Graving dock ready
Q3 2006: Roadwork on both approaches begins
Q4 2006: First four pontoons in place
Q1 2007: Bridge deck construction begins
Q4 2007: All pontoons in place
Q4 2007: Roadwork on both approaches is completed
Q1 2008: Bridge deck construction is completed
Q2 2008: Test and commission
Q3 2008: Bridge officially opens
Q2 2009: Decommission of the old bridge
Q2 2009: Shoreline restoration

[edit] Bridge facts

At the deepest points near the middle of the bridge, the lakes is approximately 60 meters deep
There are a total of 12 cements pontoons
The pontoons are 25 meters wide and 60 to 90 meters long
The navigation spans on the west side of the bridge will be 44 meters long and will provide 18 meters of clearance between the bridge and the lake^[3]
Three lanes will be for westbounds traffic
Two lanes will be for eastbound traffic
An additional 1.3 meter wide pedestrians and cyclist pathway will exist on the south (eastbound) side of the bridge
The west side of the bridge will have a pedestrian/cyclist and vehicle underpass at Campbell Road and another interchange at Westside Road
The Kelowna side of the bridge will retains the existing pedestrian/cyclist underpass between City Park and Lake Avenue
The new bridge is designed to handle up to 80,000 vehicles daily; the current Okanagan Lake Bridge was designed to handle 38,000 vehicles daily but in 2005 handled approximately 50,000 vehicles daily^[4]