Similkameen Ore Conveyor Bridge

Similkameen Ore Conveyor Bridge
Princeton, British Columbia, Canada
570 feet high / 174 meters high
1,325 foot span / 404 meter span
1980

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The highest bridge ever built in Canada, the Similkameen Ore Conveyor bridge is actually the second of two high suspension bridges that were constructed to facilitate the massive Similco copper mining complex 10 miles (16 km) south of Princeton, British Columbia, Canada. The first crossing - a pipeline bridge for tailings, slurry and water - opened in 1972.

The second bridge - with a large conveyor across it - opened in 1980 to carry copper ore over to the west side of the river. As much as 1600 tons of ore per hour can cross the main span of 1,325 feet (404 mtr). The ore is then processed inside of a huge building before it is loaded onto trucks headed out to nearby highway 3. The taller, west bridge tower has two unusually large wind stay truss supports that jut out from its base. The long conveyor is partially covered by a series of odd-looking corrugated enclosures - each with two “windows” punched into the sides. Buckland & Taylor Ltd. designed the bridge in a joint venture with Robert McLellan & Co. Ltd.

The original pipeline bridge is located about half a mile (.8 km) north of the conveyor bridge and is of a similar design with a main span of 950 feet (290 mtrs). Costing just a million dollars, it was designed by Canadian Bechtel and constructed by the Dominion Bridge Company of Vancouver.

Bidwell Bar Bridge Elevation

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Bidwell Bar bridge opening ceremonies photo from the January 1966 issue of Civil Engineering magazine.

The above and below views show the bridge when the reservoir is nearly full and during a 2008 drought when the water was about 300 feet (91 meters) below the deck. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com