The Fort York Bridge is a no-go

Despite the efforts of Councillor Mike Layton and what appeared to be solid public support, City Council voted earlier today to cancel the Fort York Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge. Well, in fact, debate regarding the future of the bridge itself never even made it to council — insofar as the initial decision to nix the bridge came from the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, today's motion to bring it before council for further debate required a two thirds victory. The vote on the motion came in at 22-23.

Due to factors related to construction over the railway tracks and the need to revisit the Environmental Assesment for a new bridge — which pretty much everyone agrees needs to be built — it's likely that it'll be at least five years before a new project takes shape. That's disappointing in a number of ways for supporters of the bridge, not the least of which because the initial completion was planned to correspond with the bicentenary celebrations of the war of 1812.

Congratulations on choosing mediocrity, Toronto.

Update (4:30 p.m.)

Here's how the vote broke down.