The Corktown Footbridge (french: Passerelle Corktown) is a pedestrian footbridge over the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal, also known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, connects Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston. It is 202 kilometres long. The name ''Rideau'', French for "curtain", ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario, Canada. The bridge is located about south of the Laurier Avenue Bridge and connects the University of Ottawa campus with the Golden Triangle neighbourhood. It was opened on 21 September 2006. The bridge also connects the eastern and western sides of the Rideau Canal Pathway and has links to

Colonel By Drive Colonel By Drive (french: Promenade Colonel By) is an long scenic parkway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada named after Colonel John By. It runs along the Rideau Canal from the end of Sussex Drive (Ottawa), Sussex Drive at Rideau Street (Ottawa), Ride ...

on its eastern side and to

Queen Elizabeth Driveway Queen Elizabeth Driveway is a scenic parkway in Ottawa, Canada, that runs along the western edge of the Rideau Canal. It runs from Laurier Avenue in the north to Dow's Lake where it turns into Prince of Wales Drive. It is administered and owned ...

and

Somerset Street Somerset Street may refer to: *Somerset Street (New Brunswick) *Somerset Street (Ottawa) Somerset Street is a street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is divided into Somerset Street East and Somerset Street West by the Rideau Canal. Somerset Str ...

on its western side. The bridge's name refers to a series of shanties built along the "Deep Cut" section of the Rideau Canal during its construction. Many of the labourers living in Corktown came from

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns ar ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, giving it its name. The idea of a bridge between the University of Ottawa and the Golden Triangle dates back to the 1980s. It went through many years of review and feasibility studies with no success. The university and its students were strong supporters of concept, saying that the bridge would provide students with easier access to retail on Elgin Street and would connect the Golden Triangle to uOttawa station. City councillors Diane Holmes and

Clive Doucet Clive Doucet (born 1946) is a Canadian writer and politician. He served as the Ottawa City Councillor for Capital Ward from 1997 to 2010 and ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Ottawa in the 2010 Ottawa municipal election, finishing third with 15 pe ...

also lobbied heavily for the construction of a bridge. Finally, in January 2005, city council narrowly approved a $5 million bridge project. In spring of 2007, a naming committee was struck by councillors Diane Holmes and Georges Bédard, composed of stakeholders from communities on both sides of the bridge. The committee presented its report to a public meeting on May 29, 2007, where members of the public had an opportunity to express their preferred name from three shortlisted names: Somerset Footbridge,

Charlotte Whitton Charlotte Elizabeth Whitton (March 8, 1896 – January 25, 1975) was a Canadian feminist and mayor of Ottawa. She was the first woman mayor of a major city in Canada, serving from 1951 to 1956 and again from 1960 to 1964. Whitton was a Canad ...

Footbridge, and Corktown Footbridge. Public support for the "Corktown" name was overwhelming. The name was also promoted by groups such as the Ottawa District Labour Council, the

Bytown Museum The Bytown Museum (French: Musée Bytown) is a museum in Ottawa located in the Colonel By Valley at the Ottawa Locks of the Rideau Canal at the Ottawa River, just below Parliament Hill. Housed in the Commissariat Building, Ottawa's oldest remain ...

, and an ad-hoc group called "Friends of Corktown Bridge", which organized a

cèilidh A cèilidh ( , ) or céilí () is a traditional Scottish or Irish social gathering. In its most basic form, it simply means a social visit. In contemporary usage, it usually involves dancing and playing Gaelic folk music, either at a house p ...

in advance of the public meeting. The formal ceremony to name the Corktown Footbridge was held on 11 September 2007 led by Mayor

Larry O'Brien Lawrence Francis O'Brien Jr. (July 7, 1917September 28, 1990) was an American politician and basketball commissioner. He was one of the United States Democratic Party's leading electoral strategists for more than two decades. He served as Postm ...

. The Corktown Footbridge has numerous love locks attached to its railing. In 2014, Professor Murat Saatcioglu of the University of Ottawa determined that there was no risk of structural collapse from the weight of the love locks attached to the railing of the bridge. In 2019 numerous of the love locks were removed due to "the amount, placement and clumping of locks," and that city staff routinely inspect the locks and removed damaged ones.

References

* This contains the official decision naming the Corktown Footbridge.

External links

{{Ottawa Bridges in Ottawa Bridges completed in 2006 Pedestrian bridges in Canada Irish-Canadian culture in Ontario 2006 establishments in Ontario