Toronto's Port Lands celebrates the opening of two landmark bridges
As part of its Port Lands Flood Protection project, Waterfront Toronto has officially opened two new roads and bridges that will link the future Villiers Island to downtown Toronto, as well as the surrounding Port Lands.
Part of a family of four iconic bridges, the Cherry Street North and Commissioners Street bridges are the latest connections to open in the Port Lands, marking a key advancement in the Port Lands Flood Protection project, and helping to advance the redevelopment of some 500 acres of underused land in the city.
The Commissioners Street Bridge connects the future Villiers Island to the rest of the Port Lands. The Cherry North Bridge connects the future island to downtown Toronto. At the same time, two new roads will open. The new alignment of Cherry Street between Lake Shore Boulevard and Commissioners Street, and the rebuilt Commissioners Street between Cherry and Saulter Streets.
Waterfront Toronto's Port Lands Flood Protection Enabling Infrastructure (PLFPEI) project called for innovative and aesthetically stunning bridges to be placed over current and future waterways in the area.
The Port Lands Bridges, which are central to the $1.3B revitalization and regeneration effort, were designed by Entuitive, schlaich bergermann partner (sbp), and Grimshaw Architects.
Halifax-based Cherubini Metal Works won the contract to fabricate the bridges. Some specialized work was also done in the Netherlands by a firm called CGI.
"We're pleased to celebrate the opening of Cherry Street North and Commissioners Street Bridges, and to reflect on our rewarding and fruitful collaboration with sbp and Grimshaw, as well as our construction partners at EllisDon," said Michael Meschino, Principal, Entuitive. "Waterfront Toronto is one step closer to completing one of the province's most exciting projects, and the creation of crucial infrastructure, a place to live, work and play, will be a truly remarkable transformation."
The joint design effort was also bolstered with direction from Waterfront Toronto and construction manager EllisDon.
"We are honoured to be a part of the physical transformation of the Toronto waterfront into a vibrant, active, and connected community," says Juan Porral, Partner, Grimshaw. "The Port Lands Bridges enable connectivity and ease of mobility, creating memorable gateways for pedestrians, cyclists, future streetcars, and vehicles onto and through the new Villiers Island."
The bridges were designed as a unified family of four and showcase innovative fabrication techniques alongside state-of-the-art engineering. The goal of the design was to create elegant and efficient structures that will function as both crossing points and compelling destinations for the public. The single-span Cherry Street North Road and LRT Bridges and the four-span Commissioners Street Bridge join the previously opened Cherry Street South Bridge. With three spans, the Cherry Street South Bridge crosses the new mouth of the Don River on the west side of Villiers Island and was opened in October 2022.
"The Port Lands Bridges are a prime example of how creative teams of architects, engineers, contractors, and owners can come together and design beautiful bridges," says Michael Stein, Managing Director, sbp. "We are thrilled to contribute to the evolution of Villiers Island with bridges that serve the community both as functional infrastructure and as engaging landmarks that improve the quality of their built environment."
The project called for bridges that would reference the history of Toronto's waterfront while also supporting a livable and walkable future for the new neighborhood. The design team arrived at a hybrid shell-arch bridge structure—essentially curved tied arches with a planar deck connected by hangers. This self-anchoring curved-tied arch maximizes the material efficiency and reduces cost. Additionally, tied arches only create vertical reaction forces which reduce the size and complexity of the foundations. This was a key design consideration since the soil in the industrial area is contaminated and of poor quality and supporting foundations and piers were also limited by the site's flood protection plan.
“These bridges reflect the innovation and design excellence woven through all of Waterfront Toronto’s projects,” said George Zegarac, President and CEO, Waterfront Toronto. “These connections fulfil a promise to reconnect people to the waterfront and to reorient Toronto to the lake by turning underused, post-industrial lands into the city’s new front porch. People crossing these bridges will get their first look at the new parks and river that are under construction. For many, it will be the first time they encounter the potential of Villiers Island to create new access to water, sprawling greenspace and new housing right downtown.”
Since arriving in Toronto from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia via the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Port Lands Bridges have won international engineering and steel construction design awards in North America and Europe, including from the Institution of Structural Engineers, the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations, the Structural Engineers Association of NY, and the Association of Consulting Engineers Companies for Ontario.
The new roads and bridges were made possible by investments from the Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario, and the City of Toronto in the Port Lands Flood Protection and Enabling Infrastructure Project.