Should Hamilton save the Valley Inn Road bridge?
The city closed the beloved rattling timber span in December for fear it would collapse
A half century later than expected, the end is near for the rattling timber span kids on bikes call the “clickety-clack” bridge.
The city closed the 56-year-old Valley Inn Road bridge over the mouth of Grindstone Creek in December after an inspection found failing support girders.
Now local politicians must decide whether to repair, replace or just remove a bridge that is beloved by young cyclists, birdwatchers and about 10,000 runners who depend on the crossing to reach the Around the Bay race’s infamously steep claim-to-pain, Heartbreak Hill.
But a solution is unlikely to be cheap or simple. Salvaging the existing structure would require “major rehabilitation,” said Hamilton asset manager Erika Waite.
It turns out the middle of the bridge is also the municipal boundary with Burlington. “You can’t fix half a bridge. We’ll have to co-ordinate with them (Burlington) on what the eventual solution will be,” said Waite, adding the ownership wrinkle was only discovered recently.
So recently, in fact, it was news to Burlington Ward 1 Coun. Kelvin Galbraith. “I didn’t realize . ... It has not been on our budget radar,” said Galbraith, who is now seeking an update on the bridge. Galbraith said in a perfect world he would like to keep a pedestrian link over the creek, noting he grew up skating on nearby marsh ponds. (He says young Burlington cyclists call it the “rickety-rackety” bridge.)
Ironically, the current structure — a prefabricated Bailey bridge — was actually only intended as a short-term replacement in 1964 after the original collapsed into the creek outlet into Hamilton Harbour.
The city’s oldest “temporary” bridge stayed put instead and was closed to car traffic a decade ago to extend its life. But
an inspection last fall made the city nervous about even allowing 20,000 running shoes to pound over the bridge in the upcoming Around the Bay road race, said Waite. “We don’t want to put anyone at risk,” said Waite, who added record-high Lake Ontario levels also influenced the decision to close the failing, low-slung bridge.
Seven-foot-high fences now block access to the weathered timber span, but The Spectator saw at least one walker scramble over the barrier this week.
In the spring, the city hopes water levels fall enough to allow a closer inspection to help with cost estimates for rehabilitation, replacement or “decommissioning.” It’s too early to say what a new bridge would cost, she said, but any safe repair option would require hundreds of thousands of dollars at a minimum.
Anna Lewis, the director of the oldest long distance road race in North America, is cheering for replacement. “I’d put two hands up for that,” she said.
The upcoming Around The Bay race in March will detour runners away from Valley Inn Road — and the 500-metre incline known as Heartbreak Hill — to instead follow Plains Road to York Boulevard. “We’ve had to detour before, but we’d like our hill back (eventually),” she said. “It’s an absolutely integral part of the race.”
Hamilton Ward 1 Coun. Maureen Wilson said she is also a fan of the bridge — and the “clickety-clack” moniker — and would prefer to fix or replace the crossing. “It’s a pedestrian and cycling link and a nice connection to the (Royal Botanical Gardens) natural lands.”
It’s also a piece of history, with Valley Inn Road once being the main 1800s road link — briefly tolled — between Toronto and Dundas.
At the same time, Wilson acknowledged the city has a $3.7billion infrastructure backlog. It’s a struggle just to find the cash to repair crumbling escarpment access walls, for example, or replace ancient combined sewers that spit pollution into the environment.