Star Mine Suspension Bridge

The Star Mine Suspension Bridge is an approximately 385 foot long pedestrian suspension bridge across the Red Deer River near Drumheller, Alberta. Constructed in 1931, it was built for the coal workers of Star Mine and it has been restored. For some reason that only made sense at the time the miners would cross this suspension bridge to go to work at the coal mine on the other side of the river. You would have thought that if they went to all of the trouble to put a coal mine in they could have put a proper bridge in or a road on the other side from a crossing elsewhere. I have mentioned in another post that Alberta is littered with coal mines and I doubt anyone knows where most of them are. The Drumheller area has no shortage of places they could turn into attractions.

I have a thing for interesting bridges which makes me a bit of a contradiction as I also have an issue with heights. I was fine walking across this bridge. The issue with heights comes and goes, and is rarely consistent. The pictures were taken on September 21, 2014. The bridge gets a lot of heavy tourist use and is free to cross. There is nothing to see on the other side, you basically cross and then come back. The other side is private property. I would have had to do a bit of walking to find a good vantage point to fit it all in. These photos were the best ones.