Canal Lake Concrete Arch Bridge
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Canal Lake Concrete Arch Bridge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Coordinates | 44°33′29″N 79°02′45″W / 44.55801°N 79.04592°W |
| Carries | Centennial Park Road |
| Crosses | Canal Lake |
| Locale | Kawartha Lakes (Ontario) |
| Owner | City of Kawartha Lakes |
| Heritage status | National Historic Sites of Canada |
| Characteristics | |
| Material | Reinforced concrete |
| Total length | 202 feet (62 m) |
| Width | 16 feet (4.9 m) |
| Height | 29 feet (8.8 m) |
| Water depth | up to 15 feet (4.6 m) |
| No. of spans | 1 |
| Clearance below | 29 feet (8.8 m) |
| No. of lanes | 2 |
| History | |
| Designer | Department of Railways and Canals |
| Construction start | 1905 |
| Construction end | 1905 |
| Opened | 1905 |
| Official name | Canal Lake Concrete Arch Bridge National Historic Site of Canada |
| Designated | 24 June 1988 |
| Location | |
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Canal Lake Concrete Arch Bridge is an arch bridge in Ontario, Canada, spanning a portion of Canal Lake on the Trent–Severn Waterway between Balsam Lake and Lake Simcoe. It is north-northeast from the town of Bolsover.
The closed spandrel bridge is the earliest-known bridge in Canada to be constructed using reinforced concrete, and is based on a modified Melan System of bridge reinforcement. In 1988, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canada for representing a transitional period in bridge construction and a milestone in civil engineering in Canada.
Designed by the federal Department of Railways and Canals, the bridge was built in 1905.[1] The original design was for a concrete arch bridge typical of its era. Before construction began, the design was updated by integrating reinforced concrete using a modified Melan System of bridge reinforcement, which had been pioneered by its namesake Josef Melan in the 1890s.[1][2][3] Among the changes were the installation of struts underneath the arch, and a reduction in the mass of the arch and its abutments.[3] The concrete mass is reinforced with curved steel girders.[1]
The arch is a closed spandrel, in which the structural load of the deck is carried to the arch ribs via spandrel walls.[4] It has a radius of 30 feet (9.1 m),[3] and its vertical clearance of 29 feet (8.8 m) is sufficient for vessels to navigate underneath.[5] The deck is 16 feet (4.9 m) wide, and spans 202 feet (62 m) over the lake, anchored by reinforced concrete abutments.[3] The concrete spandrel walls are marked to imitate the voussoir layout common to stone arch bridges and the "coursed stonework of stone masonry bridge abutments".[2]
The bridge was refurbished between April 2018 and February 2019 by GMP Contracting Ltd., the work included patching concrete, refacing the surface and replacing the road deck.[6][7]