Bridge of the Twenty-Three Camels
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bridge of the Twenty-Three Camels | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Coordinates | 50°41′02″N 121°55′44″W / 50.6838°N 121.929°W |
| Carries | Two lanes of British Columbia Highway 99 |
| Crosses | Fraser River |
| Locale | Lillooet, British Columbia |
| Owner | British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure |
| Characteristics | |
| Total length | 341.50 m[1] |
| No. of spans | 5 |
| History | |
| Opened | June 26, 1981 |
| Location | |
 | |
Bridge of the Twenty-Three Camels is the official name of the highway bridge over the Fraser River at Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada, on BC Highway 99. It replaced the older 1913-vintage Lillooet Suspension Bridge, just upstream, which had no highway designation but connected the town to BC Highway 12, a designation which today only refers to the Lillooet-Lytton highway but, until the extension of the 99 designation from Pemberton, also included the Lillooet-Cache Creek highway.
The name references the Cariboo camels imported to the region to haul freight in 1862. As something of a joke on this name, the crossing of the Yalakom River at Moha, a small concrete truss span, sports the sign "Bridge of the Twenty-Three Chipmunks".
The bridge was opened on June 26, 1981 by Transportation and Highways Minister Alex Fraser and Thomas Waterland, Minister of Forests and the MLA for Yale-Lillooet.[2]
