The Making of the Cliffwalk at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park near Vancouver

Cliffwalk at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park

Cliffwalk at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park

The cover story of the November 2012 Civil Engineering Magazine is about the incredible cantilevered pedestrian walkway known as the Cliffwalk, located some 300 feet above the Capilano River Valley in Capilano Suspension Bridge Park near Vancouver. This amazing structure is a feat of rock engineering as well as structural engineering, fabrication and construction (among other things). Famed geological engineer Duncan Wyllie, who literally wrote the book on Foundations on Rock, was the rock engineer on the project. The geotechnical engineers rappelled along the cliff face to perform structure mapping. The rock bolts in the granite cliff were up to 18 feet long, and a total of 1,673 feet of rock bolting was used. The geotechnical design also had to consider rockfall potential above the walkway. The excellent video below shows the entire process of construction of the Cliffwalk…it’s well worth the 6 or 7 minutes! [Source: Civil Engineering Magazine. Image: Capilano Suspension Bridge Flickr Stream]

Video of the Making of the Cliffwalk at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park