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TORONTO – The Toronto Port Authority has announced winter construction on the Ship Channel Bridge is now complete and the structure is open to marine traffic.

The multi-phase project to modernize the aging lift bridge began in March 2022 through a partnership between the port authority and the City of Toronto.

The bridge required extensive rehabilitation in order to maintain marine transportation of bulk commodities such as road salt, cement or aggregates to the Port of Toronto.

The Cherry Street Bascule Bridge located south of Polson Street carries two lanes of traffic as well as sidewalks on both sides over the Ship Channel in the Port of Toronto. The bridge was constructed in 1931 and consists of a 37-metre-long Warren Through Truss Bascule span (a lift bridge activated by counterweights) and a 43-metre-long steel girder approach span on both the north and south ends, the port authority states. The north end of the bridge has 750-tonne concrete counterweights that allow the bridge to pivot to the open position to allow ships to access the channel.

The total length of the bridge is 123 metres and the substructure consists of concrete abutments founded on timber piles.

Operational lifting of the Bascule span provides critical access that allows ships to access the channel and the turning basin.

The project will modernize three key components of the aging structure and is expected to be fully complete in 2028, the port authority notes.

Here is the work that has been completed to date and what’s to come:

• Phase one (completed March 2024): Rehabilitation of the north and south roadway approaches.
• Phase two (completed March 2026): Structural steel repair, cleaning and coating.
• Phase three: Replacement of end-of-life mechanical and electrical lift systems; remaining cleaning and coating.

Most of the phase three work in will occur during the winter months when the Ship Channel Bridge is closed to marine navigation, just as it was for phase two.

“In addition to its environmental and operational benefits, modernizing the Ship Channel Lift Bridge will enable the Port of Toronto to attract increased tonnage of cargo, increase shipments of heavy single components consignments and increased cruise ship passenger volumes,” explains the port authority. “Further, it will increase the utilization of the existing terminal warehouses, cruise passenger terminal facilities and bonding/brokerage facilities.”

In an average year, over two million tonnes of cargo transit through the Port of Toronto.