Winnipeg Manitoba - The Arlington Street Bridge, crossing above the Canadian Pacific Railway yards between Logan Avenue and Dufferin Avenue, was not easy to build as ratepayers rejected its funding two years running. Finally, construction got the go ahead in 1909.

This bridge is the only span we're aware of that forces motorists to halt for a red light while driving across it.

The reason there's a traffic light at the apex of the Arlington Street Bridge is the same reason Winnipeg streetcar conductors refused to traverse it almost a century ago, its incline is too steep.

"The signals on Arlington Bridge are to provide control for vehicles proceeding off the bridge", says City of Winnipeg spokesman Ken Allen. "During icy conditions, stopping on the down slope approaching Logan or Dufferin is very, very difficult".

Allen says a rumour that the Arlington Street Bridge had been originally intended for the Nile River, in Egypt, is an urban legend.

"The city has no records to corroborate that", Allen says.

Don't tell the Manitoba Historical Society. That group's web site states that the bridge was purchased in 1910 from the Cleveland Iron Works in Birmingham, England, after the Egyptian government refused delivery.