Albert Memorial Bridge (Regina)

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Albert Memorial Bridge with trolley bus and automobiles; Legislative Building in background

The Albert Memorial Bridge, located on Albert Street in Regina, Saskatchewan, was built in 1930.

The bridge construction was a relief measure during the Great Depression. The project included draining and dredging the adjacent Wascana Lake, building two islands in the lake and constructing the bridge. Known as “Bryant’s Folly” after then Public Works Minister, James Bryant the make-work project was ridiculed by the locals because of its cost. It was opened on November 10, 1930 by Premier J. T. M. Anderson, dedicated as a memorial to the Saskatchewan soldiers who died in World War I.

The bridge was designed by the architectural firm of Puntin, O’Leary, and Coxall, and is noted for its Egyptian ornamentation, lamp standards and glazed terra-cotta balusters and buffalo heads. The bridge is 850 feet long and 74 feet wide.

The bridge is claimed to the longest bridge over the shortest span of water, although this has never been officially verified.^[1]