The Pretoria Bridge is a

table Table may refer to: * Table (database), how the table data arrangement is used within the databases * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and column ...

bridge in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Ontario, Canada. It crosses the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal is a 202-kilometre long canal that links the Ottawa River at Ottawa with the Cataraqui River and Lake Ontario at Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Its 46 Lock (water navigation), locks raise boats from the Ottawa River 83 metres (272 ...

linking

the Glebe The Glebe is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located just south of Downtown Ottawa in the Capital Ward. As of 2016, the neighbourhood had a population of 13,055. The Glebe is bounded on the north by the Queensway, on the e ...

and

Centretown Centretown is a neighbourhood in Somerset Ward, in central Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is defined by the city as "the area bounded on the north by Gloucester Street and Lisgar Street, on the east by the Rideau Canal, on the south by the Qu ...

Old Ottawa East Old Ottawa East or just Ottawa East (''Vieil Ottawa Est'' in French) is a neighbourhood in Capital Ward in central Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located south of Nicholas Street and between the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River, with Avenue ...

. The bridge was built in 1915, replacing an earlier wooden

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...

on Argyle Street just to the north. It is a table bridge, meaning that the central portion of the bridge can be elevated to allow boats to pass underneath. Although built by the Strauss Bascule Bridge Company, the moveable span is not a bascule type but a table-type. In the late 1970s it was discovered that

road salt Road salt (also known as de-icing salt, rock salt, or snow salt) is a salt used mainly as an anti-slip agent in winter road conditions, but also to prevent dust and snow build-up on roads. Various kinds of salts are used as road salt, but calciu ...

had seriously damaged the bridge. Proposals were advanced to build a larger and higher bridge, but these were opposed by those who saw the bridge as a heritage structure. Eventually it was decided to rebuild the bridge almost exactly as it had been before. The bridge shares its name with nearby Pretoria Avenue. Pretoria Avenue, formerly Jane Street, was renamed in 1902 to commemorate the British victory in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

and those Canadians that had served. The name comes from the captured Boer capital,

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

. The name later become controversial as most Canadians associated it with the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

regime in South Africa. In the late 1980s a movement was launched to rename the bridge after

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

. This was opposed by others who felt it was an important monument to Canadians who had fought in South Africa. City council refused to get involved and the proposal eventually died.

References

*"The battle of Pretoria Bridge." Dan Turner. ''The Ottawa Citizen.'' Ottawa, Ont.: Oct 16, 1988. pg. E.1 *"Pretoria Bridge: Rewriting name ignores history." Gene Bodzin. ''The Ottawa Citizen.'' Ottawa, Ont.: Mar 26, 1990. pg. A.8

External links

* {{Authority control Bridges completed in 1915 Bridges in Ottawa Road bridges in Ontario Vertical lift bridges in Canada 1915 establishments in Ontario