Built in stages between Midway, BC in the east and Hope, BC in the west the 600 kilometre Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) was built to service the mining areas of the Southern Interior region of BC. The KVR was initially a separate entity from the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) but, in 1931 was taken over by the CPR. Beginning in 1957 the railway was slowly abandoned in stages as both passengers and freight were increasingly shifted to road travel. By May of 1973 this section of the line was completely shut down and officially listed as abandoned in 1978. In the spring of 1990 the remainder of the line was abandoned.
The British Columbia government purchased the Kettle Valley Railway corridor and it has been converted to the
Kettle Valley Rail Trail, a 600 kilometre multi use trail open to hikers, bikers and, in most sections, off road vehicles.
This bridge, two sections of steel truss bridge, crosses the Kettle River at the
Kettle River Recreation Area, a BC Parks park and campground 6.4 kilometres up Highway 33 from Rock Creek.
The smaller section is a Warren through truss bridge with verticals while the larger section is a Pratt through truss, also with verticals. The two are supported by concrete seats on each riverbank and meet at a concrete pier in the river. Wood plank decking and wooden side rails have been added for safety since its inclusion in the rail trail. The trail, incidentally, is part of the
Trans Canada Trail, the world's longest hiking and biking trail.