Wellington County held an official ceremony just east of here on Dec. 17 to mark the replacement of a bowstring bridge built in 1925 on County Road 16.
The new Rae bridge cost about $1.8-million and was an infrastructure project. Each of the three levels of government provided a one-third share of the cost.
The bridge, one kilometre north of County Road 19, was named after the abutting property owner, J. Rae, at Lot 12, Concession 5, of old West Garafraxa township. In July of 1924, that township unanimously decided to build a new, 70-foot cement bridge.
It was a one-span (1.5 lanes by today’s standards) poured in place, steel reinforced bowstring arch bridge, and it replaced the first bridge on that road, which was built in 1898.
The bowstring bridge was designed by A.W. Connor and Co., an engineering firm from Toronto. It was built by Charles Mattiani’s company, which built many of the bowstring bridges in Wellington County around that time.
The new bridge is a single span concrete beam bride with the outside face of the barriers embossed to mimic the old style railing system. It has a span of 92 feet and a deck width of 36 feet.
It was designed by McCormick Rankin Corporation, an engineering firm of Mississauga, and built by Looby Builders (Dublin) Limited.
County Road 16 was closed for five months to allow the construction.
The replacement is the final upgrade work on County Road 16.
Warden Joanne Ross-Zuj welcomed over 30 people to the bridge in bright and sunny but brisk weather.
Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong said he was particularly pleased to attend this bridge opening because, about five years ago, he attended a similar one in Elora over the Irvine River. Chong said the federal government of that day had contributed nothing, so he was pleased to attend a celebration where the federal government had paid a share.
The federal and provincial governments each paid $621,000.
Chong said the money was to “address the global recession,” and he added, “Canada has weathered it better than other G7 or OECD countries.”
Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott was unable to attend, but Ross-Zuj read his letter of congratulations.
“County council and staff have worked hard to establish the need and the successful completion of this project,” he said, noting that the infrastructure spending ‘strengthens our economic competitiveness and provides safe and efficient travel.”
Minister of Agriculture Leona Dombrowsky’s letter said, “This bridge plus the improvements to the road and the surrounding landscape will be important to ensuring this community’s economic and cultural well being,” she wrote.
Work on this project consisted of removal of the existing bridge, construction of the new bridge and improving road approaches and landscaping.
Ross-Zuj said, “This project was critical to improving our transportation efficiency as well as the safety of our roads. We are thankful for the contributions made by the federal and provincial governments which have made this project possible.”
Roads committee chairman Rod Finnie said bridges form links between north and south and the past and the present. He quipped that people who listen hard could hear the steps of the first surveyors in the area (Finnie is a surveyor) and they can also hear the “carts of the past, the occasional horse, up to the 1,400 cars a day” using the bridge.
“Who knows what will be on this bridge 100 years from now,” he said. “The past is a link with the future.”
