Getting access to the Bow River this fall was an important milestone in the construction of the new Bow River crossing.

Bridge project manager Chris Mosher, of PCL Construction, says the town has provided ample time to complete the bridge by the fall of 2020, but a delay in securing the necessary permits to work in the water would have stalled access to the river to the spring of 2019.

"We had to have that berm built by September 15 because you're not allowed to work in the water after that. That's a big one. If we would have missed that we would have to wait until spring."

Mayor Jeff Genung, town staff and project contractors provided what is planned to be the first of several media tours of the construction site on Oct. 22.

It was also the first time the mayor personally visited the site.

Construction of the temporary berm is complete and is being used as a construction platform for the bridge piers. By May 15, part of the berm is required to be removed to allow for the higher water flow of the Bow, explains Mosher.

The town says the berm will be removed entirely in the summer so the gravel beach can be reestablished.

PCL is conscious of where the bridge is being constructed and are attempting to minimalize its impact on both the river and the people recreating in the area.

"It's hard to not impact it at all but to make sure you are minimizing that impact," says Mosher. "It's a very beautiful area of the Bow River and it's getting a lot of use by Cochrane residents so a big part of working there is being cognizant of that and trying to work around people in the dog park and making sure you minimize that impact."

The crossing is a three-span bridge with a single pier in the river, and the second pier adjacent to the river. It starts at the southeast of Griffin Rd. The road it connects to on the other side is the James Walker Trail and leads to a traffic circle that allows motorists to continue to River Heights Dr. or to other future residential areas. James Walker Trail will eventually directly connect motorists to Hwy. 22.

The foundation of the entire bridge span is established first and then it's built upwards. PCL expects to be pouring the cement deck by next summer.

Narrowing name selection to three

Phase 2 of the name selection project for the new bridge ended Oct. 19 and town council will select the final three choices being offered to the public at its Nov. 12 meeting.

Town communications advisor Natalie Turville says 708 votes were received to narrow down the vast number of proposed names to the top three in each of the four categories. Now, the list will be further reduced to just three names.

More than one vote per household was allowed by the online voting system but safeguards were in place to avoid bots and prevent spam voting, explains Turville.