Historic bridge will soon be for pedestrians only
The Peel Street Bridge, built over the Grand River in 1913, will soon be open to pedestrians only.
Woolwich Township council voted Wednesday in favour of preserving the historic structure by turning it into a pedestrian-only bridge, Mayor Sandy Shantz said in an interview.
“Council struggled long and hard about that. There were two schools of thought.”
Council weighed the heritage value of the bridge, and the cost of building a new one, versus the less-expensive option of banning vehicles and preserving the structure for people.
Shantz said it is part of a trio of historic bridges in that part of the region that also includes the 1881 Kissing Bridge in West Montrose and the 1886 Glasgow Street Bridge in Conestogo.
In 2013 the University of Waterloo heritage resources centre completed a massive survey of all of the bridges in the Grand River watershed. The study estimated 38 historic bridges on the Grand and its tributaries had already been lost, but the Peel Street Bridge will not be joining that group.
The researchers called it the Winterbourne Bridge, and said it was the only one of its kind in the region. In the vernacular of civil engineers it is known as a doublespan, camelback, Pratt through-truss bridge. The researchers called it “an exceedingly rare example” of that type of bridge.
“It also acts as a gateway to the village of Winterbourne,” said the study. “The structure has strong visual appeal and has been captured by a local aerial photographer, Carl Hiebert, and famous local artist, Peter Etril Snyder.”
About 12 buggies a day travel over the Peel Street Bridge. Woolwich councillors do not think that justifies a new bridge at a cost of $4 million to $8 million. So, they opted to spend $1 million on the repairs and maintenance needed for a pedestrian-only bridge.