Calgary Zoo replacement bridge construction to begin

Anyone passing between the Calgary Zoo and Inglewood this week may have noticed a large truck, whichappears to be stuck in the Bow River.

That truck isn't stuck and it isn't lost. It's in the right place as workers do a geotechnical inspection of the riverto determine what kind of foundation will be needed for anew bridge.

• Historic Inglewood bridge to get $19M replacement
• 2 Calgary bridges, near zoo and Fort Calgary, to be replaced

Construction of the bridge is expected to commence in 2016. The new wider span will replace the existing bridge on 12th Street,which has been in place since 1908.

The design of the new bridge hasn't been revealed yet. The city has decided to build the replacement just to the west of the existing span.

The budget for the new bridge is$19 million and it's expected toopen in the winter of 2017.

Once the new span is open, the existingsteel-truss bridge will be torn down. It is physically deteriorating and engineers have determined it would be prohibitively expensiveto renovate it to keep it,even forpedestrians or cyclists.

Truck traffic has been banned from the 12th Street bridge since the 2013 flood.