Historic Sites of Manitoba: Portage Avenue Subway / Omand's Creek Bridge (Portage Avenue, Winnipeg)

A subway at Portage Avenue over Omand’s Creek in Winnipeg, consisting of a single-span concrete and steel railway bridge measuring 14 feet wide by 100 feet long, and a concrete and steel roadway bridge measuring 90 feet long by 110 feet wide, was built between 1936 and 1937 by the firms of Macaw and Macdonald and the Dominion Bridge Company at a total cost of about $99,130.14. It opened officially in May 1937.

The single-span bridge had a single track to accommodate the Canadian Pacific Railway while the roadway originally had two lanes measuring 24 feet for automobile traffic on ether side and 24 feet in the middle to accommodate two tracks for the Winnipeg Electric Company’s streetcars but these were removed after the system was decommissioned in 1955.

Portage Avenue Subway

Portage Avenue Subway (1937)
Source: Winnipeg Tribune, 29 May 1937, page 7.

Portage Avenue Subway

Portage Avenue Subway (May 2024)
Source: Jordan Makichuk

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.88157, W97.19410
denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Manitoba Business: M and M Construction / Macaw and Macdonald

Manitoba Business: Dominion Bridge Company

Sources:

“Construction work in Winnipeg district this season totals millions,” Manitoba Free Press, 30 June 1936, page 1.

“Winnipeg's latest, roomiest and simplest subway,” Winnipeg Tribune, 29 May 1937, page 7.

This page was prepared by Jordan Makichuk.

Page revised: 28 May 2024

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