The new Nelson Street active transportation bridge was officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday.
It’s the latest in a series of bridges to span over the railroad tracks at this location, and includes space for both pedestrians and cyclists.
The old pedestrian bridge was in need of extensive repairs. The $3-million cost to replace it was roughly the same as rehabilitation, spurring the city to go with a new build.
“I’m not a bridge expert, but that’s a really f*****’ nice bridge,” cycling enthusiast and Sessions Ride Company owner John Lalonde told Friday’s crowd, which also included members of Rainbow Routes Association and the Cycling Grannies.
“We really needed this bridge. We didn’t know we needed this bridge until we didn’t have this bridge.”
The bridge links up with the city’s most popular cycling route, which circles Ramsey Lake, he said, and adds an important link to a path network which cyclists were scrambling to work around during the new bridge’s construction.
There’s a long history behind the Nelson Street bridge, which spans railroad tracks, dating back to the late 19th century, when the original bridge was in service in Chalk River before being relocated to Sudbury in the early 1900s. It served streetcars until 1950, vehicles, trucks and buses. The original bridge was removed in the late ’70s, and replaced with a pedestrian bridge.
Whereas there was significant public debate in the ’70s regarding whether the city needed a new Nelson Street pedestrian bridge, city Growth and Infrastructure general manager Tony Cecutti said that no such debate took place this time around, with the community accepting the importance of active transportation.
“The importance for building a healthier community is well-recognized,” he said.
The old 52-metre, seven-tonne pedestrian bridge was removed with a crane in June, and the new $3-million pedestrian bridge was slid into place on rollers, city Project Services manager Stephen Holmes told Sudbury.com.
“The project went extremely well,” he said, adding that it came in on-time and on-budget.
The general contractor behind the project was Lively-based GDB Constructeurs, and the engineers and contract administrators were from WSP.
The new structure is a prefabricated Warren truss structure three metres in width, which is approximately one metre wider than the old bridge and will allow room for both pedestrian and cyclist use. Built of galvanized steel, the new structure is expected to have a lifespan of 100 years with minor rehabilitation.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
