Salem Road Railroad Overpass

Thanks to Scott Steeves for visiting and photographing this bridge.

This bridge has the distinction of being the first wooden structure represented on this website. This website has traditionally shied away from including wooden stringer bridges because they are difficult to date because the technology behind a wooden stringer bridge has remained essentially the same for over a century, and also because they usually do not exhibit any period architecture. A wooden bridge built in 2005 might look quite similar to a wooden bridge built in 1905. This bridge however, as a narrow one-lane bridge with a posted weight limit of 18 tonnes is likely a fairly old bridge. As a result, it earned its rightful place in this website because it is a bridge at risk. Located on a road that was most likely a county road when this bridge, which may date to the 1920s/1930s, the road is today developing into a suburban area. The road itself is gradually being widened to four lanes. This will likely spell the end for this bridge.

This bridge appears to be historically intact, retaining what appear to be original wooden railings. Wooden overpasses like this can be found elsewhere in Ontario, including around London over the Canadian Pacific line.