<Contributed> The Collingwood Street Bridge is 99 years old this year. Will it be around for the residents of Creemore to celebrate its 100th anniversary? Not if the County of Simcoe has its way. The County has the bridge scheduled for destruction later this year, to be replaced by a concrete overpass.
This steel structure that has serviced our community for almost a century was built in 1913 by J. J. Dummond of Brentwood, who was a local contractor and Justice Of The Peace for the County of Simcoe. This unique structure is one of the few steel riveted bridges remaining in Ontario. The cement foundation still bares the impression of “JJ Dummond Contractor June 1913.” His great grandson Chris Vanderkeys of Brentwood still possesses the metal letters used to create the impression. Until recently, the bridge maintained its required load rating. It has since been reduced to a 5 ton limit because of its age.
When I got wind of the scheduled concrete replacement, I helped form a committee to try to save the bridge and to find ways to restore the structure to its original grandeur and load capabilities.
It may surprise some to learn that the Creemore area is home to several people with world-class expertise in steel bridge engineering, construction and restoration, and several of them enthusiastically joined our committee: John Hillier, a landscape architect and principal for du Toit Allsop Hillier, whose company provides architectural design to structural engineers for heritage and landmark bridges including the Laurier and Corktown Bridges crossing the Rideau Canal in Ottawa; John Boote, a structural engineer who oversaw the construction of the Bluewater Bridge from Sarnia, Ontario to Port Huron, Michigan; and Jack Mesley, a steel bridge construction expert and consultant with years of bridge building experience from all over the world. Chris Vanderkeys got involved from a historical point of view as it was his great grandfather who built the bridge, and Clearview councillors Thom Paterson and Brent Preston also joined the group.
In September of 2010 the County filed a Notice of Assessment to the Ministry of the Environment outlining their intention to replace the bridge with a two-lane concrete structure. I filed an official objection with the Ministry, and started a petition for local residents to sign. Within a short time there were over 200 signatures on the petition. MPP Jim Wilson threw his support behind having the bridge declared a heritage structure and personally added his signature as he presented our petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The Legislative Assembly later told us that declaring the bridge a heritage structure is the responsibility of our municipal government.
The MOE concluded that the Environmental Assessment was incomplete and so the County temporarily withdrew their notice. What the experts in our group found was that the Collingwood Street bridge could be restored to modern load capabilities, a sidewalk could be added and this piece of our heritage preserved for half of the over two million dollars that the County has budgeted for replacement. We went before Clearview Council to tell them about this alternative, and they passed a motion for us to meet with the County. We made a presentation to the County Corporate Services Committee which is chaired by Clearview Mayor Ken Ferguson, but it was clear that County staff had already made up their mind.
We met individually with the County engineers and consultants who are overseeing the project and laid out our plan for a cost effective restoration. The more we studied the bridge and the more we met with people involved in the plan to replace it, the more we were convinced that restoration would be as safe, cheaper and would be less environmentally intrusive than replacement, and maintain the heritage value of this local landmark, compared to an ugly generic concrete overpass. Unfortunately, our efforts have failed to convince County staff.
We were recently informed that the County intends to proceed with demolition and replacement. But the fight is far from over. Restoration is supported by the 200 plus Creemore residents who signed our petition, by our local members of Council, and by our provincial MPP. All we need to do is convince our County representatives to save this piece of our history.
The great thing is that saving our bridge will also save us, the taxpayers, a lot of money.
Watch for meetings in the near future and please let our County reps know how you feel about our bridge.
For more info contact Barry Burton at 705-466-2718 or burtonmobile@sympatico.caor John Hillier at 705-466-5510 or jhillier@dtah.com.