road up the bank along what is now Saskatchewan Crescent. Even the Long Hill was difficult for streetcars; in March 1922, a streetcar derailed when it slid off ice-covered tracks while attempting to turn onto the bridge. The 2 metre-wide pedestrian walkway was added on the upstream side of the bridge in 1908. In 1961, the southern end of the bridge was raised to reduce the slope on the Short Hill and to improve traffic flow, allowing Saskatchewan Crescent to pass underneath the bridge. The bridge carried approximately 10,000 vehicles per day. The bridge was repainted in 1979, albeit as little or no surface preparation was done the work was of dubious structural benefit. Beginning in the 1980s, the bridge started to show its age and needed to be closed periodically for refurbishment. Some adjustments were also made to widen the roadway, as many modern motorists were experiencing difficulty crossing the bridge. It was also closed for extended periods of time in the early 1990s when City of Saskatoon work crews damaged the bridge twice by driving over the bridge with vehicles too heavy or too large for the bridge specifications. Closures Temporary (2005–2006) On September 6, 2005, the City of Saskatoon closed the bridge for inspection, in preparation for planned upgrades to the roadway (including the installation of the city's first roundabout (since the removal of the "traffic circle" on 8th Street a decade earlier) just off the north end of the bridge) in anticipation of an adjacent riverfront development (River Landing). On November 2, the bridge was closed indefinitely to vehicular traffic upon completion of the inspection, due to corrosion and other factors. The bridge was re-opened on September 8, 2006, following repairs that cost $500,000. The bridge remained open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic for most of this period. Replacing the bridge instead of repairing it would have cost between $24 and $45 million. Without major repairs, engineers had given the bridge a 20 year life expectancy (either as a vehicle or a pedestrian crossing). The job of sandblasting the bridge to bare metal and re-painting it was made very expensive by the need to keep all sandblasting debris out of the river as the existing paint was lead-based. The bridge's arches were equipped with several series of decorative LED lights in the summer of 2007. They included a programmable controller that made the lights change colour