'Legacy accomplishment': Highway 15 pedestrian bridge officially opens

The pedestrian bridge below Highway 15 into Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., officially opened on July 31, 2023. (Sean Amato/CTV News Edmonton)

The pedestrian bridge suspended beneath Highway 15, linking Sturgeon County and Fort Saskatchewan, was opened on Monday.

The pedestrian bridge represented the final leg of work for the Highway 15 bridge twinning project, which was started in 2019.

Additionally, it is a milestone for the River Valley Alliance (RVA), the group leading the work to connect the Edmonton metropolitan region – from Devon in the south to Sturgeon County and Fort Saskatchewan in the north – with a river valley trail called called Beaver Hill Road, or Amisk Wacîw Mêskanaw in Cree.

RVA executive director Kristine Archibald called it a "crucial piece" of the eventual 100-kilometre puzzle.

"This is shared investment for shared benefit when we talk about how it's going to impact the lives of our citizens in the entire Edmonton metro region," commented Fort Saskatchewan mayor Gale Katchur.

Recalling how her son once rode his bicycle into Edmonton on Highway 15 and found it too dangerous to do again, she added, "This is really about safe access if they want to come across and come and enjoy the river."

"I'm just so grateful to be the mayor that has spanned over this, to actually see the fruition of this happening. So for me, this is a real legacy accomplishment for our councils."

The pedestrian bridge and trail connections cost $5 million to build and were funded in part by the federal and provincial governments.

"Today we celebrate not just a bridge… but our future of enhanced connections, shared experiences, and endless possibilities. I hope this bridge inspires us all to explore, appreciate, and protect the natural beauty that surrounds us," Sturgeon County deputy mayor Dan Derouin said.

"This beautiful Beaver Hill Road is literally the heart of the region and the heart of certainly the city that I represent and Edmonton Centre itself," Randy Boissonnault, Edmonton Member of Parliament and newly named federal jobs minister, said before the ribbon cutting.

"Its Cree name, which is Amisk Wacîw Mêskanaw, goes right back to the heart of this as a corridor of commerce, for thousands of years, before settlers came here at all."

The Highway 15 pedestrian bridge is also connected to the 28,000-kilometre Trans Canada Trail.

The organization contributed more than $300,000 to the project.

"It has national scope and it's local in execution, which is what trails are. And the small businesses and attractions that are found along the trail are the ones that are going to benefit because trails are a conveyance mechanism," president and CEO Eleanor McMahon said.

Speaking of the impact of the Edmonton region's trails, she continued, "It's in the millions of dollars. It's astounding in terms of the contribution it makes to jobs, to quality of life, to showcasing Indigenous tourism opportunities."

According to the RVA, the 100-kilometre trial will be 75 per cent completed by 2025. Earlier in the year, the group held a sod-turning ceremony for the foot bridge that will connect Strathcona County and Edmonton at 167 Avenue and Township Road 540.