TORONTO — Major construction has started on the new Lower Don Bridge, a new Ontario Line bridge being added on the north side of an existing rail bridge, with space for tracks going in both directions.
The new bridge will be built north of the existing Lower Don Bridge over the Don Valley Parkway and the Don River and will carry trains on the Ontario Line, a brand new subway line being built in Toronto, across the Don River between the Corktown and Riverside communities.
In 2023, construction crews cleared the area, relocated a watermain that went beneath the railway and shifted the existing train tracks, states a Metrolinx blog post, adding the work was completed to prepare the site for the start of bridge construction.
The tracks needed to be shifted because the Ontario Line will run alongside GO Trains in the shared rail corridor in the area. Shifting the tracks makes it possible for continued GO service during Ontario Line construction and makes space for new Ontario Line tracks, the blog indicates.
The site is now cleared, and utilities have been moved to a new spot. Construction on the new bridge’s east support structure (or abutment) is starting with installation of two concrete and steel piers that will support the foundation of the bridge. Once the east side is completed, Metrolinx move onto the west support structure.
The subway is expected see nearly 400,000 daily boardings and will reduce major crowding at the existing Union and Bloor-Yonge subway stations by up to 14 and 22 per cent, respectively.
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