The Sir Isaac Brock Bridge is a steel

Warren 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 s ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. It lies along Bathurst Street over the railway tracks between Front Street and Fort York Boulevard. The bridge carries four lanes for motor vehicles with the centre lanes containing the

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

tracks of the

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 ...

511 Bathurst The 511 Bathurst is a Toronto streetcar route operated by the Toronto Transit Commission in Ontario, Canada. Route The 511 Bathurst operates between Bathurst station and Exhibition Loop north–south along Bathurst Street in mixed traffic, ...

streetcar route. The Bridge was formerly named The ''Bathurst Street Bridge'' before changing names and being named after

Isaac Brock Major-General Sir Isaac Brock KB (6 October 1769 – 13 October 1812) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Guernsey. He is best remembered for his victory at the Siege of Detroit and his death at the Battle of Quee ...

Description and history

The steel truss bridge was built in 1903 and used for the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

over the Humber River (northside of then Lakeshore Road at mouth of the river). It was dis-assembled and re-located in 1916 to Bathurst Street and converted for road traffic. The bridge served to connect Bathurst Street at Front Street to

Fort York Fort York is an early 19th-century military fortification in the Fort York neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort housed members of the British and Canadian militaries and defended the entrance to Toronto Harbour. The fort featu ...

. In 1931, the bridge was moved and re-aligned (Bathurst Street was at an angle south of Front Street) to support streetcar service south of the railway tracks at that location. A new bridge south of the bridge was constructed to connect the south end of the bridge, connecting Bathurst to Fleet Street. Fort York lost its road access in the change, and a footbridge to the east entrance was constructed. Humber-bridge-1910

The Tywn River Drive Bridge, Queen Street Viaduct, and the Old Eastern Avenue Bridge are other examples of steel bridges in Toronto. Lawrence Avenue Bridge was a truss bridge that took traffic over Don River, but it was replaced by the current overpass over the Don River and

Don Valley Parkway The Don Valley Parkway (DVP) is a municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which connects the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Highway 401. North of Highway 401, it continues as Highway 404. The parkway ru ...

in the 1960s. In 2007, the bridge was given the official name of the "Sir Isaac Brock Bridge" by the City of Toronto. This was done at the instigation of the "Friends of Fort York" organization. The bridge is owned by

Metrolinx Metrolinx is a transportation agency in Ontario, Canada. It is a Crown agency that manages and integrates road and public transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). It was created as the Greater Toronto Transportation Au ...

, which owns the railway tracks below. It was formerly owned by the

Canadian National Railway 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 a ...

. From May until late-December 2020, the bridge was closed for rehabilitation work. Crews made steel and concrete repairs to the road-carrying spans and the exposed steel, replaced TTC streetcar tracks and overhead wiring, and constructed a new concrete parapet wall along the curb for improved safety.

References

{{Coord, 43.640357, N, 79.40127, W, region:CA-ON_type:landmark, display=title Bridges completed in 1903 Brock Road bridges in Ontario