Across the Spacing urban blog network each week we’re asking our readers in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Otttawa, and the Atlantic cities to let us know their favourite things about their respective city.
THIS WEEK: What is your favourite pedestrian bridge(s) in Toronto?
If possible, please provide a link to a photo you are commenting about. We suggest using Flickr as the photographers that use this site usually provide the best quality images (and often with creative commons usage). And if you really want to be helpful you can provide a link to the work’s location on Google Maps (please use a bit.ly or tinyurl.com URL so we don’t get horribly long links that Google provides).
Humber Bridge photo by Sean Marshall
12 comments
Mimico Creek Bridge for sure, due to its quasi-Calatrava heritage. Perfectly symbolizes Toronto – it tries to do something world class, then settles for a value-engineered version of it, everyone more or less happy as a result if not quite first-tier.
Can’t find a creative commons photo but it is all over google.
I think Esplanade Riel in Winnipeg is quite spectacular.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/university_of_winnipeg_dce/galleries/72157623511131487/
Favourite bridge is this one over the railway that splits Pape into two sides near Gerrard Square Mall. It looks like crap but it’s all about the view of downtown from here. Looks amazing.
http://g.co/maps/rx6zs
My favorite pedestrian bridge was going to be the Fort York Pedestrian Bridge that counsel killed this past spring.
Here’s my link – http://tinyurl.com/3hjudb2
Glen Road Bridge over the Rosedale Valley.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/evictorc/152283646/
Definitely Calatrava’s Mimico Creek Bridge
Glen Cedar Bridge – http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10717764
Map – http://bit.ly/uKjcff
Beautiful views of the ravine, and the bridge has an interesting history.
The Heath Street East bridge: http://g.co/maps/tbrxd http://www.flickr.com/photos/evictorc/152297747/in/photostream/
The Prescott Ave/Innes Ave bridge: http://g.co/maps/m9z7c I’ve only just discovered this one!
iSkyscraper: Toronto built the spectacular pedestrian bridge over the Humber River seen in this photo at roughly the same time as the Calatrava bridge. It’s impressive by any world standard and was designed by Canadians. Plus, one can look on the bright side that you’re talking about a city that hires the likes of Calatrava to do small park bridges on the edge of the city.
The Humber Bay Arch Bridge is easily my favourite pedestrian bridge in Toronto. It’s monumental, sophisticated, elegant, and comfortable to spend time on. It gets photographed all the time. These qualities of the Humber Bay Arch Bridge are very appropriate considering the profound historical importance of the site. Where the Humber River flows into Lake Ontario was the endpoint of the Toronto portage trail. The area is the cradle of civilization for Toronto, a key trading place for First Nations and Europeans, and a place of early settlement both for First Nations and Europeans. Europeans first settled in the immediate area in the early 1700s. So we built this bridge with spectacle that appropriately suggests the profound historical significance of the area.
AR: Correction. The Mimico Bridge, inspirted by Calatrava was designed by Delcan engineers with input from the good doctor. Detailing was not done by the master. The materials are failing, the quality of the stainless is poor, neither of which would likely have happened if Calatrava had been involved to completion.He doesn’t even list it on his website.
Thank you for that information, Baray. It’s always good to know the details on these projects when attributing them to architects.
One often forgotten pedestrian bridge in Toronto that also has its appeal is the Amsterdam Bridge at Harbourfront Centre.