The Queen Street Viaduct (usually known as the Queen Street Bridge) in Toronto, Canada carries vehicles and

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the primary public transport agency in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operating the majority of the city's transit bus, bus and rail services. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers ...

streetcars along

Queen Street East Queen Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original ea ...

and across the

Don River The Don () is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its basin is betwee ...

. It is an example of a

Pratt truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

History

The

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

is at least the third bridge over the Don River at this location, the first operated by the Scadding family in the early 1800s (One of the early bridges was a wooden bridge built in 1803.) The previous bridges were closer to the level of the river bank below. The bridge prior to the 1910 bridge was a warren truss bridge and was shifted over during the transition work. The Board of Railway Commissioners authorized the construction of the third, current bridge in 1909 because of safety concerns. The new bridge would eliminate a busy grade-level railway crossing on the west bank of the river, used by the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...

and the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...

. There was also a concern that streetcars were becoming too heavy for the second bridge. The current steel

Truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

was built in 1911 by

Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company was a British bridge works and structural steel contractor based in Darlington. It built various structures including the Victoria Falls Bridge, Tees Transporter Bridge, Forth Road Bridge, Forth Road, Hum ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

, England. It was higher in elevation than previous bridges at the location and streets on each side of the river were graded higher to meet the level of the bridge. To make room for the new bridge, the old one was shifted to the south to carry road traffic during construction. The bridge was opened for streetcars on 8 October 1911, and for other road traffic 5 days later. The bridge was renovated in the 1990s and

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

was added. At the top of the western side of the bridge is a piece of public art created in 1996 by Eldon Garnet. The bridge is one of a few steel

Truss bridges A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

in the city: * Old Eastern Avenue Bridge – unused bridge crossing the Don River * Sir Isaac Brock Bridge – recycled bridge carrying Bathurst Street over the railways * Tywn River Drive Bridge – a minor bridge crossing the Rouge River * Lawrence Avenue Bridge – former bridge that took traffic over Don River replaced by current overpass in the 1960s * The Dowling Avenue steel bridge was replaced with a steel truss pedestrian bridge.

Public art

The art work on the bridge by Eldon Garnet consisted of a clock, which ceased to work and the mechanism and hands were removed in 2010. The phrase "''this river I step in is not the river I stand in''", taken from the philosophy of

Heraclitus Heraclitus (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Empire. He exerts a wide influence on Western philosophy, ...

, is inscribed in large letters overarching the road. The bridge art is one part of a three site art piece, with the second part as words inscribed on the pavement at the intersections of

Broadview avenue Broadview can refer to: Places Australia *Broadview, South Australia Canada *Broadview (federal electoral district), in Ontario * Broadview (TTC), a Toronto subway station * Broadview Avenue, a street in Toronto * Broadview, Saskatchewan United S ...

and Queen street, and the last part as four metal "banners" at Queen and Degrassi street

References

External links

* {{Crossings navbox , structure = Bridges , place =

Don River (Ontario) The Don River is a watercourse in southern Ontario that empties into Lake Ontario, at Toronto Harbour. Its mouth was just east of the street grid of the town of York, Upper Canada, the municipality that evolved into Toronto, Ontario. The Don is ...

, bridge = Queen Street Viaduct , bridge signs = , upstream = Dundas Street Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream = Old Eastern Avenue Bridge , downstream signs = Bridges in Toronto Bridges completed in 1911 Road bridges in Ontario 1911 establishments in Ontario Pratt truss bridges