Garden City Skyway

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Garden City Skyway
GC Skyway left.jpg
Coordinates 43°10′02″N79°11′43″W / 43.16731°N 79.19520°W / 43.16731; -79.19520
Carries6 lanes of Ontario QEW crown.svg Queen Elizabeth Way
Crosses Welland Canal
Locale St. Catharines, Ontario
Other name(s)Bridge 4A, "The Skyway"
Maintained by Ontario Ministry of Transportation
Characteristics
Designsteel
Total length2.2 kilometres (1.4 mi)
Width30 metres (98 ft)
History
OpenedOctober 18, 1963
Statistics
Daily traffic 169,100 (2016) [1]
Toll1963-1973
Location
Garden City Skyway

The Garden City Skyway is a major high-level bridge located in St. Catharines and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, that allows the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) to cross the Welland Canal without the interruption of a lift bridge. Six lanes of traffic are carried across the bridge, which is 2.2 kilometres (1.4 mi) [2] in length and 40 metres (130 ft) at its tallest point.

Contents

It is the tallest and largest single structure along the entire QEW; the Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway, which is also part of the QEW, is actually two separate and smaller four-lane bridges. Among all the bridges spanning the present Welland Canal, the Skyway is numbered Bridge 4A (the Homer Lift Bridge is Bridge 4). When the Garden City Skyway is closed due to a traffic accident or weather conditions, traffic is diverted to cross the canal at the Homer Lift Bridge.

In 2025, another QEW bridge is planned to be built adjacent to the existing Skyway, twinning it.

History

The Garden City Skyway in September 1963, soon before opening. The old bridge lay to the left, raised for a passing ship. Traffic is queued on both sides, a frequent occurrence each summer until the skyway was built. Garden City Skyway, September 1963.png
The Garden City Skyway in September 1963, soon before opening. The old bridge lay to the left, raised for a passing ship. Traffic is queued on both sides, a frequent occurrence each summer until the skyway was built.

Construction began in January 1960, with the main span crossing the Welland Canal hoisted into place in July of that same year. The bridge was open to traffic on October 18, 1963. During construction, the bridge was referred to as the Homer Skyway, taking its name from the lift bridge that the new skyway was to replace. Upon dedication, the bridge was officially named the Garden City Skyway, using the nickname of St. Catharines, "Canada's Garden City." Tolls were charged on the bridge until 1973.

The construction work included an Ontario "tall-wall" concrete median barrier, new bridge parapets, and the installation of shaded high-pressure sodium lights using the existing truss poles.

In 2015, the high-pressure sodium lights on the bridge were replaced with bright white LED lights on the existing truss poles.

Diversion

When the Garden City Skyway is closed due to a traffic accident or weather conditions, traffic is diverted along frontage roads (Dieppe Road, Dunkirk Road, Glendale Avenue, Queenston Road, Taylor Road and York Road) to cross the canal at the Homer Lift Bridge, re-connecting to the QEW on the opposite side.

Proposed expansion

Since the early 2010s, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has been working on plans to build an additional bridge next to the Skyway, twinning it. [3] Reasons for twinning the bridge include high traffic demand, road safety (the existing bridge lacks shoulders on both sides) and structural concerns as a result of the age of the existing bridge. [3]

The second bridge would be around 2.2 kilometres (1.4 mi) in length, and be constructed north of the existing Skyway for Toronto-bound traffic, while the existing bridge would be used by vehicles heading toward Niagara. [4] Once open, the existing Skyway bridge would be refurbished and rehabilitated. [5]

As of May 2022, construction is estimated to start in 2025 and take around 4 years to complete. [3] The preferred route was announced in 2013. [4] 25 properties were purchased by the Ministry of Transportation to facilitate the planned twinning. [6]

See also

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St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2017, St. Catharines has an area of 96.13 square kilometres (37.12 sq mi) and 140,370 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, 51 kilometres (32 mi) south of Toronto across Lake Ontario, and is 19 kilometres (12 mi) inland from the international boundary with the United States along the Niagara River. It is the northern entrance of the Welland Canal. Residents of St. Catharines are known as St. Catharinites. St. Catharines carries the official nickname "The Garden City" due to its 1,000 acres (4 km2) of parks, gardens, and trails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welland</span> City in Ontario, Canada

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welland Canal</span> Ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie

The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, and part of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. The canal traverses the Niagara Peninsula between Port Weller on Lake Ontario, and Port Colborne on Lake Erie, and was erected because the Niagara River—the only natural waterway connecting the lakes—was unnavigable due to Niagara Falls. The Welland Canal enables ships to ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment, and has followed four different routes since it opened.

The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario linking Toronto with the Niagara Peninsula and Buffalo, New York. The freeway begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels 139.1 kilometres (86.4 mi) around the western end of Lake Ontario, ending at Highway 427 as the physical highway continues as the Gardiner Expressway into downtown Toronto. The QEW is one of Ontario's busiest highways, with an average of close to 200,000 vehicles per day on some sections. Major highway junctions are at Highway 420 in Niagara Falls, Highway 405 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Highway 406 in St. Catharines, the Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton, Highway 403 and Highway 407 in Burlington, Highway 403 at the Oakville–Mississauga boundary, and Highway 427 in Etobicoke. Within the Regional Municipality of Halton the QEW is signed concurrently with Highway 403. The speed limit is 100 km/h (62 mph) throughout most of its length, with the exceptions being between Hamilton and St. Catharines where the posted limit is 110 km/h (68 mph).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niagara Peninsula</span> Peninsula in Ontario, Canada

The Niagara Peninsula is an area of land lying between the southwestern shore of Lake Ontario and the northeastern shore of Lake Erie, in Ontario, Canada. Technically an isthmus rather than a peninsula, it stretches from the Niagara River in the east to Hamilton, Ontario, in the west. The peninsula is located in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, and has a population of roughly 1,000,000 residents. The region directly across the Niagara River and Lake Erie in New York State is known as the Niagara Frontier.

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References

  1. "Provincial Highways Traffic Volumes 2016" (PDF). Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Highway Standards Branch. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  2. "QEW | Garden City Skyway". Archived from the original on 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
  3. 1 2 3 Walter, Karena (2022-05-04). "MTO aiming for Garden City Skyway twinning in 2025". stcatharinesstandard.com. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  4. 1 2 "Twinning skyway plans move forward". St. Catharine's Standard. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  5. "QEW Garden City Skyway – Bridge Twinning Project". Infrastructure Ontario. Retrieved 2023-04-18. Upon completion of the bridge, traffic from the existing bridge will be temporarily switched onto the newly constructed bridge to allow for rehabilitation of the existing Garden City Skyway bridge (under a separate contract).
  6. Walter, Karena. "'Bittersweet': Niagara family business losing home of 34 years to Skyway twinning". St. Catharines Standard. Retrieved 18 July 2023.