Burlington Canal Lift Bridge is a

vertical lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swin ...

located to the north side of the Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway in

Burlington, Ontario Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is a city and List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipality in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region at the west end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Can ...

. Built in 1962, the bridge is the sixth bridge to span the Burlington Canal since 1830. The bridge allows vessels to enter and exit from

Hamilton Harbour Hamilton Harbour (formerly known as Burlington Bay) lies on the western tip of Lake Ontario, bounded on the northwest by the City of Burlington, on the south by the City of Hamilton, and on the east by Hamilton Beach (south of the Burlington ...

into

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

. The bridge does not lift during the winter months (January to late March). The bridge carries Eastport Drive across the canal with two lanes for traffic in each direction, as well as a single pedestrian walkway on the west side. Traffic light and signalized gates are found on both ends of the bridge. The road surface on the bridge is not paved, but rather metal grating. In 1896 Hamilton Radial Electric Railway cars crossed the 1877 bridge. Before 1982 it also carried rail traffic along a

CN Rail The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

(Hamilton and North-Western Railway) route but the section of the line was removed and the bridge converted to a vehicular bridge. North tower of the Burlington Lift Bridge

North tower of the Burlington Lift Bridge

The bridge is maintained and owned by Public Works Canada.

Earlier Bridges

The_bob-tailed_swing_bridge_with_a_car_of_the_Hamilton_Radial_Electric_Ry

Several bridges were built from 1826 to 1952 to accommodate railway, radial and vehicular traffic: * 1826: wooden bridge built; damaged in storm * 1830: swing bridge built; damaged by schooner Elsie Hope * 1877: 375 foot through-truss manual swing bridge built by

Hamilton and North-Western Railway The Hamilton and North-Western Railway (H&NW) is a former railway in Ontario, Canada. It ran north from Hamilton on the western end of Lake Ontario to Collingwood on Georgian Bay and Barrie on Lake Simcoe. Through the purchase of the Hamilton an ...

replaces scow service * 1901: steel truss electric swing bridge * 1921-1922: single leaf bascule bridge * 1952: temporary bridge built to replace the north leaf bascule bridge The last three bridges were demolished following the completion of the current bridge in 1962.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline Bridges completed in 1962 Buildings and structures in Burlington, Ontario Transport buildings and structures in Hamilton, Ontario Transport in Burlington, Ontario Rail infrastructure in Hamilton, Ontario Road bridges in Ontario Lake Ontario Transport in the Greater Toronto Area Vertical lift bridges in Canada