Saskatoon's demolished Traffic Bridge to be recycled

One day after the explosive demolition of the city's Traffic Bridge, plans are in place to begin recycling.

The two southern sections of the iconic structure sit on a temporary berm, mostly now a pile of iron rubble, waiting to be recycled by the contractor working on the dismantling.

"The remains are being handled by the contractorand their plan is to have it all recycled or go for scrap," City of Saskatoon's Director of Special Projects Mike Gutek, said.

"I don't think it'll take much longer than a couple weeks. They'll be in there with the excavators and hydraulic shears. The steel will come down very fast. Probably the messy stuff to clean up is the asphalt and creosote."

The asphalt and wood from the bridge are being recycled while the scrap metal will go to a salvage lot.

• The history of Saskatoon's Traffic Bridge

No parts of the Traffic Bridge to be housed in a museum

Despite the bridge's varied and long history it will not be re-purposedinto a memorial site or a historical structure. It's also unlikely any will end up at the Western Development Museum.

"We've not receivedany call from the City or Graham Construction," said themuseum's CEO,Joan Champ.

If that were ever to happen, she said a single bridge piece would not suffice. They would require an entire exhibit with photos and videos.

The Meewasin Valley Authority has a display at its building whichfeaturesthe bridge and its history. Their staff did save one girder and commissioned art with it.

Community development manager at Meewasin Valley Authority Doug Porteous said maintaining other larger parts of the bridge are too expensive.

"But interpretation, I think, is what's important and we put interpretation all throughout the valley," hesaid, referencing signage along the river.

Porteous said there will also be large signs commemorating the old bridge on the new one.

Dave Bykowsky,with the fire department, is also reminding people that they should not try and acquire their own bridge memorabilia.

"The structural integrity is compromised to a great degree now. So it's really unstable," he said. "We just want to make sure everyone stays backstays away. It is a secure area so just respect that security line."

The next steps

The City said another span of the bridge will be removed before the end of winter and the builder is planning to have one of the new spans up in summer.

As far as the bridge piers are concerned, the City said they will be repurposed with a new concrete exterior like a crown over a tooth so a part of the old bridge will hold up the new one.