St Paul Crescent Bridge

St. Paul Crescent is the name of the road that this bridge once carried. It is now closed to vehicular traffic. This bridge is located next to the Burgoyne Bridge which plays a key role in allowing visitors to enjoy this beautiful truss bridge. From on top of the Burgoyne Bridge, which carries St. Paul Street, you can get beautiful birds-eye views of this bridge. It is always fun to view truss bridges from different perspectives, and this is a rare opportunity for that fly-by view, short of flying a helicopter over the bridge. The picture shown on this page is from the Burgoyne Bridge.

This bridge is a through Parker truss, with riveted connections. Original guardrails are present on the cantilevered sidewalks as well as on one side of the road deck. There are no guardrails for the other side of the deck, which is probably how it was when it was built. V-lacing is present on vertical members, under the top chord, and on the sway bracing and diagonal overhead bracing.

I am unsure if this is an old downtown access bridge, or if it the road it once carried traveled around the downtown, in the river valley, following the alignment of the 406 expressway. Considering that this looks like a 1920s/1930s truss bridge, and that the Burgoyne Bridge also fits into that time frame, I think this bridge must have not been the old downtown access bridge. Also considering the decent paint job on this bridge, this bridge must be being maintained since it was closed. The bridge appears now to be part of a pedestrian path the parallels the 406 for a while.