Heritage advocate calls for return to historic bridge-building style

A Fergus manis urging the Township ofCentre Wellington to consider localhistory as it makesplans for a newbridge redevelopment project.

The township plans to rebuild theaging St. David Street bridge in downtown Fergus beginning in2018. In its place,Dave Beynon, a local writer and heritage advocate, saidthe townshipshould build a bowstring bridge.

A bowstring bridge sportsarches that rise over itsdeck, which is useful for spanning rivers with low banks.

They were once a popular style in the region, according toBeynon.

Kitchener's Freeport Bridge, which spans the Grand River on King Street,is a bowstring, asis the Bridgeport Bridge on Bridge StreetatLancaster Streetin Kitchener. At one time, therewas even a bowstring bridge where the current St. David Street bridge in Fergusstandstoday.

"If you look at a calendar of the region, almost any calendar you see will have a snow covered bowstring bridge at some point," Beynon said.

The style wasdeveloped in France aroundthe turn of the last century, and by1930s there were dozens in Wellington County.

"That turned out to be a good style of bridge for the area," saidBeynon. "A lot of our rivers, the Grand River and whatnot, have low river banks."

A bowstring bridge spanning the Irvine River nearSalem was granted heritage designation in 2014.

However, most local bowstring bridges have not fared sowell.

"There's probably only five or six left in Centre Wellington," Beynon said, and they will soon have to be replaced.

"They're narrow, one lane bridges, andfarm machinery nowadays can't really accommodate them. Fire trucks don't want to drive over them. So, there's a lot of reasons, and a lot of practical reasons, why they're going to disappear."

There are also practical reasons to forgobuilding new ones.Improvements in building materials have made them unnecessary, and the highercost compared toregularbridge construction isa factor as well.

"I've been told the cost of a basic bridge [at the St. David Streetlocation]is about $2.2 million, the cost of the type they're looking at building right now is about $2.5 million, and the cost of a bowstring would be an additional $1 million to$1.5 million," Beynonsaid.

On the other hand,building a new bowstring bridge could be a showpiece for Centre Wellington.

"If you go into Kitchenerand you go in along Bridge Street and you see those four arches, that tells me I'm going into something really cool," he said.

"Wecould havethe same."