The Crooked Bridge- Nipawin, SK - Railroad Bridges on Waymarking.com

Known at the "Crooked Bridge", the old Nipawin CPR bridge over the Saskatchewan River was constructed between 1928 and 1931. Rail traffic uses the top level of the bridge, while vehicular traffic uses the lower single-lane road deck. The road approach ways make a few sharp turns as they join up to the bridge in order to accommodate the rail crossing. Traffic lights are used to control vehicular traffic on the single-lane portion of the bridge. However, they lights are a modern edition, and locals shared interesting stories with me about farm vehicles meeting up in the middle of the bridge. Another story is of a farmer driving cattle across the bridge when a freight train made a simultaneous crossing overhead. Needless to say, those cattle were not to happy with that!

The following description and history of the bridge comes from a 2008 report prepared by Ross Herrington for the provincial government

The Crooked Bridge is located in the Town of Nipawin. Crossing the Saskatchewan River, the former Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Bridge is a double-deck plate girder design which incorporates a 16-foot roadway immediately beneath the upper railway deck. The structure, which was completed by January, 1930, is supported on concrete piers and steel towers.

The bridge is 1907 feet long and consists of 15 steel spans. The south approach is composed of two 80-foot and one 45-foot deck plate girders while the north approach has four 75-foot, three 45-foot, and one 80-foot deck plate girders. Each of these is supported on steel towers. The four centre spans consist of deck trusses carried on reinforced concrete piers. Each of these trusses is approximately 280 feet long.

After years of discussion and negotiation, on April 30, 1928 the CPR sent a telegram to the Deputy Minster of Saskatchewan Highways requesting approval for a 16-foot roadway suitable for 15-ton vehicles. This was immediately given, although it would appear that by early December, 1928, the province was suggesting that they now required a roadway which was 24 feet wide with a maximum curvature not to exceed 16 percent. Because of suspending the roadway beneath the rail deck, access of traffic onto and off the bridge requires negotiating a ‘Y’ approach. The bridge soon became known as Nipawin’s “Crooked Bridge”.

While the bridge was completed in early 1930, it is not known when it was opened officially. The first train from Prince Albert arrived at Nipawin in 193110 but it is likely that the first train to cross this bridge would have arrived from the east. The old CPR railway line between Nipawin and Choiceland is now owned by the Torch River Rail Inc. short-line railway company.

The heritage value of the Nipawin’s Crooked Bridge lies in its status as a distinctive feature and an important community landmark in northeastern Saskatchewan. This structure was one of the largest steel bridges in Western Canada at the time of its construction in 1930. Its unusual double-deck design incorporates a 16-foot roadway immediately beneath the upper railway deck, which was similar to the original 1903 Fraser River bridge at New Westminster, B.C.

The crossing of the Saskatchewan River provided an alternate railway route to Prince Albert and helped to open up the north side of river. The traffic bridge also promoted agricultural settlement of the large area north of this barrier.

Source: publications.saskatchewan.ca/#/products/84677