Rouge Park Bridges Transportation Master Plan – Toronto, ON

The City of Toronto engaged Dillon to develop renewal strategies for five heritage bridges constructed since 1912. They included steel pony‑truss bridges, a concrete arch and a suspension bridge, with another bridge having close ties to the Canadian military for its construction.

The bridges are located within a sensitive natural environment setting that was recently established as Canada’s first Urban National Park, encompassing an area 23 times larger than Central Park in New York. The park lands also surround the Toronto Zoo property.

Operated by Parks Canada, the Rouge National Urban Park comprises a rich assembly of natural, cultural, and agricultural landscapes, including significant biodiversity, working farms, Carolinian ecosystems, marshes, a beach on Lake Ontario, and hiking trails. The park includes some of Canada’s oldest known Indigenous sites.

The Dillon evaluation team balanced a wide range of factors:

• Safety, fire, and emergency services
• Long-term land use planning for the park
• Traffic volumes and future demands
• Pedestrian and cycling infrastructure
• Maintain the rural character of the roads
• Conservation of ecological integrity
• Constraints at railway crossings
• National, provincial, and municipal policies for conservation of heritage
• Parks Canada management policies.

Project Details

Project Partner: City of Toronto
Business Unit: Community Strategies
Service Offering: Integrated Mobility