Make sure the bridge fits, says Saskatoon architect

What's in a span?

It's a question that is occupying a lot of minds in Saskatoon these days as yet another tweak has been made in the plan to replace the iconic Traffic Bridge.

This week, city council relaxed the guidelines, just a little, so that the contractor could choose the number of spans used to build a new bridge.

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CharlesOlfert,a localarchitect withthe firmAODBT, said that a new bridge has to fit into that area.

"There's a chance to build a much less expensive pedestrian bridge and then you could have taken this new bridge and maybe put it in some other location," he told Saskatoon Morning host LeishaGrebinski. "I see it as more of a three-for-one instead of a twofor-one."

Beyond changing the future use of the old Traffic Bridge, Olfertsaidthat he wouldn't spend too much time worrying about incorporating the retro design.

"It feels kind of fake and architects don't really like to have a fake bridge that looks like the old bridge."

Perhaps more important, Olfert suggested, is making sure that future bridges in the city somehow showrespect and pay homage to the river.

"A lot of these bridges, you cross the river and you don't even know that you've done it, it's not even an event."