The City of Toronto is moving forward with plans to rebuild the Glen Road pedestrian bridge across the Rosedale Valley Ravine and the pedestrian tunnel under Bloor Street East that connect the neighbourhoods of Rosedale and North St James Town.

The Glen Road bridge, which also goes by the Morley Callaghan Footbridge, has been in place for more than 130 years. It connects the community of Rosedale to the city proper. The bridge is listed on the Toronto’s inventory of heritage bridges.

The contractor’s scope of work for the project calls for the construction team to:

• remove existing bridge, tunnel, retaining walls and north of Bloor Street East staircase including footings and structural elements,
• build a new bridge and tunnel, including foundation,
• build a new barrier free accessible pathway from Bloor Street East to the landing between new bridge and tunnel;
• install new railings on the pathway, staircase, parapet wall, bridge approaches and bridge deck;
• install new streetscaping elements in the public space on Glen Road south near the TTC subway entrance,
• extend the sidewalk on the east side of Glen Road, south of the tunnel;
• install new artistic bollards at the tunnel entrance and new art on concrete tunnel walls; and
• install new light poles and surface-mounted strip light fixtures along bridge railings and tunnel walls.

Construction is expected to begin with the bridge removal in the early spring, and is scheduled to take at least two years to complete.

The construction contract also calls for a number of tasks, such as traffic control set-up, tree protection/removal, and implementation of erosion control measures, to be completed prior to the official start of construction.

The Glen Road pedestrian bridge was last rehabilitated in in 2001, with emergency repairs on the structure performed in early 2015.