Item - 2024.IE11.5

The Infrastructure and Environment Committee recommends that:  

1. City Council endorse the preferred solutions for the Rouge Park Bridges Transportation Master Plan, which includes the following:

a. Retain Sewells Bridge and Maxwell’s Bridge with minor rehabilitations; and,

b. Replace Milne Bailey Bridge, Hillside Bridge, and Stott’s Bridge with sympathetically designed bridges; and explore opportunities for adaptive re-use of the bridges elsewhere in the Rouge National Urban Park, or alternatively adaptive re-use of bridge elements within the replaced bridges, where feasible.

2. City Council authorize the General Manager, Transportation Services to prepare the Rouge Park Bridges Transportation Master Plan Report, issue the Notice of Completion, and put the Transportation Master Plan in the public record in accordance with the requirements of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment process.

3. City Council request the General Manager, Transportation Services, and the Executive Director, Environment and Climate to ensure that environmental considerations, including impacts on the natural environment as they relate to winter maintenance, are used to inform further design and contribution of the Rouge Park bridges.

The City of Toronto owns and manages transportation infrastructure within the boundaries of the Rouge National Urban Park (RNUP). Under agreement with Parks Canada, the City provides basic municipal services, such as police, fire and emergency services and winter maintenance, and the City owns bridge structures within the Park that function as part of the transportation network.

Transportation Services, in partnership with Engineering and Construction Services has completed a Transportation Master Plan (TMP) for five bridges that cross over the Rouge River and Little Rouge River, as well as two CP Rail corridor underpasses within the Rouge National Urban Park. All five bridges considered in the Transportation Master Plan require repairs and / or rehabilitation as they are at or nearing the end of their service life. Most of the bridges were built in the early 1900s and are historically significant, and as a result, planning for rehabilitation triggers the need to complete a Schedule B Environmental Assessment under the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (EA) process.

The Transportation Master Plan Environmental Assessment process holistically reviewed the area transportation network against other environmental factors to determine where it was warranted to rehabilitate or replace bridges to meet current standards and growth requirements, versus where it was possible to maintain heritage assets through minor repairs while still meeting transportation needs. The Preferred Solutions recommended in this report include retaining the Sewells Bridge and Maxwell’s Bridge and replacing the Hillside Bridge, Milne Bailey Bridge and Stott’s Bridge.

Finally, it was determined that opportunities to improve clearances on the CP Rail corridor underpasses requires further study to confirm whether it is possible to lower the road without impact to existing bridge abutments.