City
A photographic survey of Toronto Bridges
Toronto is not a city known for its bridges. Unlike New York or Pittsburgh (to use only two examples), our city's iconography doesn't seem to feature these structures particularly prominently. The exception, of course, is the Prince Edward Viaduct, which has certainly captured the public's imagination, thanks no doubt to its role in uniting the east and west sides of the city and its portrayal in Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion.
But aside from the Viaduct, Toronto's bridges are generally more subtle structures. Most aren't particularly long or high, many are downright anonymous, and some could be characterized as ugly (though I suppose the latter characteristic is true of every city's inventory). Nevertheless, if one cares to dwell upon the subject for a while, it's not difficult to come up with a photo-worthy list of Toronto bridges.
In fact, when I took to this very task last night, I was surprised at the sheer number I could recall off the top of my head. Not really hidden, many of Toronto's bridges are linked to the ravines that line the city, and so aren't always seen from their most dramatic angles. Similarly, railway overpasses may not always seem like much to look at, but they've played a crucial role in Toronto's growth. We've also lost a few over the years to buried creeks and other types of development. And while not always grand in a Brooklyn Bridge type of way, in numerous cases, our bridges are beautiful in their own right.
Spadina Bridge at Front Street 1927 (Toronto Archives)
CPR overpasses (photo by the author)
Centre Island (photo by syncros)
The Gardiner Expressway (photo by *Imperialis*)
Bathurst Street Bridge 1916 (Toronto Archives)
Queen Street Viaduct under construction 1911 (Toronto Archives)
Glen Cedar Bridge (Toronto Archives)
Pedestrian bridge connecting the Bay and Eaton Centre (photo by tomms)
St. Clair Bridge 1924 (Toronto Archives)
Cherry Street Strauss Trunnion Bascule Bridge (photo by AshtonPal)
Subway extension off the Prince Edward Viaduct (photo by Michael Mitchner)
Summerhill CPR Bridge (photo by St-Even)
Bloor Street Humber Bridge (photo by Hamish Grant)
Taxiway Tango (photo by Tom Podelec)
Mimico Creek Pedestrian Bridge (photo by andyscamera)
Humber Bay Arch Bridge (photo by 416style).
Leaside Bridge 1927 (Toronto Archives)
The Luminous Veil - Prince Edward Viaduct (photo by Now and Here)
Crawford Street Bridge - now buried (Toronto Archives)
Harbord Bridge - now buried (Toronto Archives)
Discussion
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And when is the Eaton Centre pedestrian bridge going to get a cleanup? Eucch....
And the winner is: Bloor Street Humber Bridge by Hamish - gorgeous!
Subway extension off the Viaduct? I never noticed that before.
Grrreat idea for the illumination the Luminous Veil on the Viaduct. With the help of solar panels, coloured LED lights, yes, bring it on! The city of Paris is known as the City of Lights. It's our turn now.
Here's a nice example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdsimages/3310576902/
If you look carefully, you can see large steel plates along the top of the bridge; those actually used to be skylights which were later covered up to protect the tracks from the weather. Unfortunately the TTC did it in the most hamfisted way possible, as opposed to using a transparent material to preserve the effect.
After numerous incidents of people using the subway bridge as an access point to the tunnels the TTC sealed off access to prevent future incidents.
The tunnel is visible from Rosedale Valley Rd:
http://bit.ly/fDZgy8
http://bit.ly/h3WcPL