Historic Agreements Between City And Railway Set Tone For Modern Day Arbitration
The Fourth Avenue Bridge has been a major thoroughfare in Moose Jaw since its first wooden iteration in 1911.
It has always been a major traffic bridge over top of the operations of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) today’s forerunner of Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway (CPKC)
The present day cement Fourth Avenue Bridge was constructed in 1929 and is in dire need of major structural and other repairs.
According to documents submitted by the City to the Canadian Transportation Agency “the Viaduct is well past any legitimate service life expectations.”
Repairs will potentially cost into the tens of millions of dollars and take the main traffic artery out of service for months during reconstruction.
With the design work on the lastest rebuilding proposal for the Fourth Avenue Bridge almost complete the big question is where will the money come from?
The City of Moose Jaw is hoping CPKC will shoulder part of the cost of the multi-million dollar re-build. The railway has responded negatively to the City’s request.
The entire matter is now before arbitration with the Canadian Transportation Agency for a decision.
At the present time neither side is commenting publicly while arbitration is on-going.
The Canadian Transportation Agency is yet to render a decision in the case.
Today we look at the 1911 bridge order and the 1929 agreement between the City of Moose Jaw and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) the foundation of the City’s present day arbitration submission.
First in a series.
By Robert Thomas
It is no understatement the Canadian Pacific Railway, today’s Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway (CPKC) was instrumental in defining the Moose Jaw we know today.
The day the CPR chose the site of where Thunder Creek and Moose Jaw River converges to take on water for their steam locomotives set in motion the creation of first the Town of Moose Jaw and later the City.
The need to get across the CPR facilities that ran along the flat lands adjacent the river a bridge was built over the tracks in 1911.
The original bridge was replaced in 1929 and it is the present cement bridge used to this day.
The Fourth Avenue Bridge Shortly After Its Opening - from the Moose Jaw Chamber of Commerce’s collection
The basis of the City’s present day application goes back 115 years.
It is no understatement that the agreement hashed out in 1929 would found the basis of arbitration claims between the City and CPR for generations.
But the 1929 agreement is deeply steeped in the original Sixth Avenue Bridge agreement.
On May 30, 1911 when the Board Of Railway Commissioners For Canada ordered the City of Moose Jaw to pay half the costs to the CPR for construction of a bridge over the Railroad’s operations at 6th Avenue.
Sixth Avenue would later become Fourth Avenue making the bridge seem to have physically moved two blocks - which it of course had not.
The order was given after an application by the CPR.
The order was based upon a June 8, 1910 agreement which split the construction costs on a 50/50 basis.
The 1911 order for the initial bridge
Under that agreement the additional conditions included “the City, thereafter, at all times, maintain and keep the said bridge, excepting the steel spans thereof and the abutments sas supporting them, but including the flooring on such spans, in good repair and condition.”
Please Note: Italics and bold face type added in the above paragraph for clearer reference.
The 50/50 construction cost sharing agreement and maintenance issue - who was responsible for what - would be part of the 1929 agreement between the City and CPR funding the present day cement Fourth Avenue Bridge.
This importance of this agreement condition would come up later during the decades whenever upgrades or repairs were needed to the structure.
But more about that in the next article. Just suffice it to say the 1911 order and 1929 agreement are part of the City’s arbitration submission to the Canadian Transportation Agency.
Page One of the November 1, 1929 Agreement between the City of Moose Jaw and the CPR
Page Two of the November 1, 1929 Agreement between the City of Moose Jaw and the CPR
Page Three of the November 1, 1929 Agreement between the City of Moose Jaw and the CPR
The key facts about the November 1, 1929 agreement that in many ways it was identical to the agreement for the 1911 bridge.
The bridge this time was to be constructed by the City this time around (and not the CPR) with the railroad to pay half of the costs upon completion up to $70,000.
The November 1929 agreement would have stipulations almost identical to the original 1911 bridge agreement.
“4. The City Will, at its own cost and expense, at all times maintain and keep the said bridge and all parts thereof, excepting the existing steel span and the abutments and piers supporting it, but including the flooring or wearing surface of such span, in good repair and condition.
S. The Company will at, its’ own coat and expense , and at all times maintain and keep the now existing steel span and the abutments and piers supporting it in good repair and condition.”
Please Note: Italics and bold face type added in the above paragraph for clearer reference.
The importance of these similar conditions would be heavily relied upon in negotiations and arbitrations over the decades for expansion and repairs to the bridge.
It is also the basis or main argument in the City’s 2023 - 03 - 06 arbitration application.
The City’s arbitration application where they state the importance of the 1911 order and 1929 agreement - source City of Moose Jaw arbitration application
“From the 1910 Agreement and 1929 Agreement, it is clear that when the Viaduct was constructed or reconstructed, the costs were shared equally between the City and CP.
Historically, there has not been an exception to this arrangement,” city engineer Bevan Harlton wrote in the application. (See screenshot above.)
Next: City Of Moose Jaw versus the CPR regarding repairs and upgrades to the Fourth Avenue Bridge over the decades.
This story is based upon hundreds of pages of documents submitted by both the City of Moose Jaw and CPKC for arbitration over the cost of repairs to the Fourth Avenue Bridge with the Canadian Transportation Agency and obtained by MJ Independent.
