In November 2004, the Canadian Wood Council honored North West Region's Structural Section for innovating the use of wood in bridge construction. The award recognized eight bridges that were designed and built between 1992 and 2003.
The Structural Section used wood in several different ways when designing these bridges. Some bridges had a prestressed wood deck that was integrated with steel girders. This technique gave these bridges a very lightweight and stiff superstructure. Other bridges, like the Rushing River Bridge near Kenora, had superstructures made entirely from prestressed wood.
The Structural Section decided to use wood because it is less expensive than steel or concrete in many remote areas of the North-West Region. They used engineered wood and innovative stressing techniques to assure that no longevity or durability problems would arise. Thanks to these innovative techniques, MTO owns some of them most unique bridges in the country.
