Amanda Sherrington –
Road access to Lake Ontario via the Port Lands promises to be a little easier this summer, following last year’s emergency repairs that closed the Ship Channel Bascule Bridge, also known as the Cherry Street Strauss Trunnion Bascule Bridge.
The Ship Channel Bascule bridge enables north-south traffic on Cherry Street while providing water access from the Inner Harbour to the Ship Channel. On April 23, 2024, the bridge became stuck in the upright position.
Repairs to its lifting mechanism were completed by October 1, but the area is still dotted with construction cones and the Martin Goodman Trail is interrupted. According to Ports Toronto, pedestrian and cyclist access has been reinstated, but traffic is restricted to a single lane, alternating directions.
Constructed in 1930 and officially opened in 1931, the Ship Channel Bascule Bridge was designed by the Strauss Engineering Company (Strauss Bascule Bridge Company) of Chicago and built by the Dominion Bridge Company of Montréal. Designer Joseph Baermann Strauss is best known for the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California.
The bridge is a representative and rare Canadian example of the Strauss-patented ‘Heel Trunnion’ bascule bridge type. The name comes from the French word bascule (see-saw), since the structure is mobile and designed on a pivot (trunnion).
The balanced design ensures that one extremity of the bridge (the leaf) is lifted when the other is lowered (the counterweight). The leaf trunnion (axle or point of rotation) is at the ‘heel’, facilitating lifting if there is little clearance between the underside of the bridge and water level.
Although the bridge retains its purpose and use within the lower Don River basin, the Ship Channel Bascule Bridge has lost its heritage status and is considered ‘at risk’. Though it was listed in 1992 on Toronto’s Heritage Register, the bridge never attained designation status. The Ford government’s More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022, removed heritage status from all listed heritage sites that failed to be designated within two years.
The Ship Channel Bascule Bridge cannot be relisted under the Ontario Heritage Act before 2029 (a period of 5 years), which would require additional steps. The City of Toronto and Ports Toronto are nonetheless rehabilitating this iconic structure, with completion expected in 2027.
