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Oak Street Bridge
Coordinates	49°11′59″N 123°07′32″W / 49.19972°N 123.12556°W / 49.19972; -123.12556
Carries	Four lanes of British Columbia Highway 99, and pedestrians/bicycles
Crosses	North Arm Fraser River
Locale	Vancouver-Richmond
Owner	British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure
Characteristics
Design	girder bridge
History
Opened	June 29, 1957
Location

The Oak Street Bridge is a crossing over the north arm of the Fraser River, the Canada Line, and several roads, in Metro Vancouver.

History

Infrastructure

During the planning stage, it was known as the New Marpole Bridge, and steel plate girders salvaged from the second Granville Street Bridge made barges for constructing the foundations of the Oak St. Bridge.

Opened in June 1957, the same date as the Moray Bridge, these links replaced the Marpole Bridge (road). The new configuration created a more circuitous route between Vancouver and Vancouver International Airport (YVR), not restored until the Arthur Laing Bridge opened in 1975. Initially, the highway ended at No. 4 Rd, short of connecting with No. 5 Rd. and the Ladner Ferry. A primary objective was to create a fast route to the U.S. border, partially realized on the 1959 opening of the Deas Tunnel, and fully with the 1962 opening of Highway 99 to the border. A branch is connected to the new Tsawwassen ferry terminal.

Vancouver regarded the bridge as a source of unwanted traffic. Despite federal promises to share construction costs, the province ended up wholly financing the project. Costing about $9m, the structure is 1,839.2 metres (6,034 ft) long. The main spans comprise haunched (deeper at supports) steel girders, and the approaches are steel or concrete girders. The central heavy steel deck plate girders, continuous over three spans, measure 60.9 metres (200 ft), 91.4 metres (300 ft), and 60.9 metres (200 ft). The freeway standard of Highway 99 ends where the bridge joins the Vancouver surface street grid. Average daily crossings were 85,000 cars in 2000. Averaging 18,000 cars on opening, summer daily averages were 70,000 in 1970, 74,000 in 1975, and 71,000 in 1980.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure for BC owns and maintains this high-level, four-lane bridge. Cyclists are legally required to ride on the sidewalks.

Tolls

The premier announced that the 25-cent toll would remain for 12½ years to cover construction costs for both the Oak St. and Moray bridges. A week later, he revised this to two years, a promise not fulfilled. Initially, to avoid tolls, most traffic used the Fraser Street Bridge, causing massive congestion, leaving Oak St. Bridge underused. Toll plazas existed on Sea Island Way and on the highway south off the bridge.

On opening, the Deas Tunnel toll was 50 cents, but a combined tunnel/bridge ticket was 60 cents.

However, weekly tickets offered huge savings. A book of 24 tickets usable at each crossing cost $1.25, amended to $1 for 20 tickets from June 1960.

The premier announced that tolls would be lifted from all highways on April 1, 1964, but were removed at 7:30 pm the previous evening. George Massey, after whom the tunnel was renamed, and an outspoken opponent of the tolls, paid the final toll at the bridge that evening. The toll booths were removed, and the roadway narrowed accordingly.

Later, the Coquihalla Highway had staffed toll booths (1986–2008), and electronic tolling operated on the new Golden Ears (2009–2017), and Port Mann (2012–2017) bridges.

Maintenance, upgrades and incidents

During the morning rush hour of November 27, 1959, heavy fog and road ice caused pileups that damaged 150 cars. The largest involved 35 cars, the next 23 and the third 18. Seven people went to hospital.

In 1964, a driver, who suffered stroke, plunged off the south end. Sustaining minor injuries from the accident, he died in hospital.

The Oak St. Bridge/Highway 99 interchange with Bridgeport Rd./Sea Island Way was modified in 1969–70, and 2001. Despite extensive work on the bridge deck expansion joints in 1973–74, they were rebuilt during 1976–78, and the deck repaved. In 1980–81, major pier protection system was installed.

In 1995, owing to extensive deterioration of the bridge deck and precast sidewalk panels, two lanes were closed alternately for resurfacing the deck with a high performance concrete, followed by a waterproof membrane, and asphalt. Recent traffic accidents that highlighted important safety deficiencies prompted the installation of no-posts at the median and curbs. The deck joints were again replaced, and deteriorated concrete on the bridge underside removed and patched.

The cast-in-place concrete girders of the southern approach were vulnerable to collapse from movements during soil liquefaction. To strengthen the under-reinforced girders, glass fibre reinforced polymer wraps, the most flexible of possible composites, were chosen. Installed over four separate contracts, the seismic retrofit was completed in 2002.

Neighbourhood redevelopment

After the bridge opened, more than 50 stores at Hudson and Marine Drive closed from lost business. Low-rise stucco apartments replaced older houses. Once the Arthur Laing Bridge opened, Granville Street developed as the commercial centre.

At the south end of the Oak St. Bridge, construction started in 1960 on the first hotel at the highway interchange. Opening in 1962, the 62-room motor inn, initially called Delport Inn, then Airport Inn, was the birth of the Delta Hotels chain. Construction beginning in 1971, the 14-storey tower that opened the next year was the tallest building in Richmond. The project added 144 new suites, and included renovating and expanding the existing amenities. The property is now branded the Sandman Signature Hotel.

Other hotels built in the immediate vicinity, and their current branding, are the Abercorn Inn (1981), Travelodge Hotel (1984), Accent Inn (1988), and Sandman Hotel Airport (1999).

On cleared land hugging the east side of the southern approach, two midrise office buildings and two hotels are under construction. The Courtyard by Marriott and Residence Inn by Marriott brand hotels will provide 201 rooms.

See also

• List of crossings of the Fraser River
• List of BC bridges

Footnotes

1. "Ribbon Cutters Open Oak Street Gateway". The Province. July 2, 1957. ProQuest 2369097745.
2. "New Bridge Opened". Victoria Daily Times. July 2, 1957. ProQuest 2257741523.
3. Ross, Leslie (1979). Richmond: Child of the Fraser (PDF). Richmond: Richmond '79 Centennial Society and the City of Richmond. p. 167. ISBN 0-9690031-0-2. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
4. "The Daily Colonist, 13 Jan 1954". www.archive.org. 1954.
5. "Image: Oak St, Bridge piers". www.archives.richmond.ca.
6. Dawe 1996, p. 47.
7. "Image: Transit route map, 1957". www.vancouver.ca. Evergreen Press for BCER.
8. Dawe 1996, p. 48.
9. "The Daily Colonist, 6 Mar 1955". www.archive.org. 1955.
10. Dawe 1996, p. 49.
11. ^ "The Daily Colonist, 20 Jul 1971". www.archive.org. 1971.
12. "Structure of the Oak St. Bridge". www.structurae.net.
13. "Frontier to Freeway" (PDF). www2.gov.bc.ca. p. 29.
14. "Highways Annual Report 1970–71". www.open.library.ubc.ca. p. B71.
15. "Highways and Public Works Annual Report 1975–76". www.open.library.ubc.ca. p. B58.
16. ^ "Transportation and Highways Annual Report 1980–81". www.open.library.ubc.ca. pp. 270 & 419.
17. "Transportation Agencies". www.richmond.ca.
18. "Cycling: Bridge Crossings". www.richmond.ca.
19. ^ Dawe 1996, p. 50.
20. "The Daily Colonist, 22 Jul 1955". www.archive.org. 1955.
21. "Vancouver street map, 1962". www.vancouver.ca.
22. "Image: Southeastward showing toll plaza, Delport Inn, and Cambie Rd. underpass, c.1963". www.reddit.com. October 17, 2019.
23. "The Daily Colonist, 21 May 1959". www.archive.org. 1959.
24. "The Daily Colonist, 26 May 1960". www.archive.org. 1960.
25. "The Daily Colonist, 29 Jun 1960". www.archive.org. 1960.
26. "The Daily Colonist, 22 Aug 1963". www.archive.org. 1963.
27. "The Daily Colonist, 1 Apr 1964". www.archive.org. 1964.
28. "Highways Annual Report 1964–65". www.open.library.ubc.ca. p. C153.
29. "The Daily Colonist, 28 Nov 1959". www.archive.org. 1959.
30. "The Daily Colonist, 2 Jun 1964". www.archive.org. 1964.
31. "Highways Annual Report 1969–70". www.open.library.ubc.ca. pp. C102 & C189.
32. "Airport Connector bridge opening". www.canadianshipper.com.
33. "Highways Annual Report 1973–74". www.open.library.ubc.ca. p. B115.
34. "Highways and Public Works Annual Report 1976–77". www.open.library.ubc.ca. p. B98.
35. "Highways and Public Works Annual Report 1977–78". www.open.library.ubc.ca. p. I27.
36. Dawe 1996, p. 52.
37. Hamersley, B.; Jennings, D. (1996). "Oak St. Bridge deck rehabilitation". Cost Effectiveness Through Innovation: Proceedings of the 1996 TA Annual Conference, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, October 6 1997.
38. Ding, Yuming; Hamersley, Bruce (2002). Seismic Upgrade of Oak Street Bridge with GFRP (PDF). 13th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering. Art. 3279. S2CID 166224239.
39. "Marpole history". www.marpolehistorical.ca.
40. "The Daily Colonist, 8 Mar 1968". www.archive.org. 1968.
41. "Kelowna Daily Courier, 28 Jan 2015". www.kelownadailycourier.ca. January 28, 2015.
42. "Reach for the Sky – The Dawn of the High-Rise in Richmond, 28 Nov 2019". www.richmondarchives.ca.
43. "Abercorn Inn profile". www.travelweekly.com.
44. "Travelodge Hotel profile". www.travelweekly.com.
45. "Accent Inn profile". www.travelweekly.com.
46. "Sandman Hotel Airport profile". www.travelweekly.com.
47. "Two Marriot hotels coming to Richmond, 25 Apr 2019". www.westerninvestor.com. April 25, 2019.
48. "Daily Hive, 6 Dec 2019". www.dailyhive.com.

References

• Dawe, Alan (1996). Richmond and its Bridges. City of Richmond Archives. ISBN 0-9690031-2-9.

v t e Landmarks in Greater Vancouver
Buildings	BC Place Beatty Street Drill Hall Bentall Centre (Bentall 5) BowMac sign Canada Place CBC Regional Broadcast Centre Vancouver Central Heat Distribution Dominion Building Former Vancouver Public Library Fort Langley National Historic Site Gulf of Georgia Cannery H. R. MacMillan Space Centre Harbour Centre Hotel Europe Hotel Georgia Hotel Vancouver International Buddhist Temple Living Shangri-La Marine Building One Wall Centre Orpheum Pacific Central Station Pacific Coliseum Park Royal Parq Vancouver Rogers Arena Royal Centre Royal Vancouver Yacht Club Science World Seaforth Armoury Shaw Tower Sinclair Centre Stanley Theatre Sun Tower Sylvia Hotel Vancouver Art Gallery Vancouver City Hall Vancouver Public Library Waterfront Station Wooden Roller Coaster List of tallest buildings in Vancouver Hyatt Regency Vancouver
Bridges	Alex Fraser Bridge Arthur Laing Bridge Burrard Bridge Cambie Bridge Capilano Suspension Bridge Georgia Viaduct Golden Ears Bridge Granville Street Bridge Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing Knight Street Bridge Lions Gate Bridge Oak Street Bridge Pattullo Bridge Pitt River Bridge Port Mann Bridge Queensborough Bridge Skybridge
Locations	Chinatown Commercial Drive Gastown Golden Village Granville Island Kitsilano Beach Metrotown Punjabi Market Robson Square Stanley Park / Vancouver Aquarium
Natural	Burnaby Mountain Burrard Inlet Burrard Peninsula Cypress Mountain English Bay False Creek Fraser River Golden Ears Grouse Mountain Indian Arm The Lions Mount Seymour Point Grey Little Mountain

• Girder bridges in Canada
• Bridges in Greater Vancouver
• Bridges completed in 1957
• Transport in Richmond, British Columbia
• Bridges over the Fraser River
• Road bridges in British Columbia
• Buildings and structures in Vancouver
• Buildings and structures in Richmond, British Columbia
• Former toll bridges in Canada