A group of four, large steel bridges will soon make their way from Nova Scotia along the St. Lawrence to Toronto. The bridges, which cost around $100 million, are part of the $1.25 billion Port Lands Flood Protection Initiative led by Waterfront Toronto.

The bridges are the first of up to seven eventually planned for the east Toronto waterfront area around Cherry Street where the Don River mouth diversion is currently underway.

According to Construct Connect, Nova Scotia-based Cherubin Group is fabricating the four bridges, starting with the first unit, which weighs 340-tonnes and spans 57-metres-long, 21-metres-wide, and 10.21-metres high.

The first bridge, which will serve as the Cherry Street North transit bridge, will be loaded onto a barge in Nova Scotia and floated up the St. Lawrence into Lake Ontario and then into Toronto harbour in late October or early November.

According to Waterfront Toronto, the Port Lands Flood Protection Project will help protect Toronto’s southeastern downtown area.

Right now, in an extreme weather event, floodwaters from the Don River would overwhelm portions of the Port Lands, South Riverdale, and Leslieville. The protection project will reconnect the Don River to Lake Ontario by creating a naturalized river mouth.

Along with other critical infrastructure to protect the area against flooding, this work will create the foundation for a future island community on the waterfront called Villiers Island, which is expected to be complete by 2024. Once developed, the island will provide homes to thousands of people and economic opportunities to thousands more.

“Creating a new island in the Port Lands means we need new bridges to connect downtown Toronto to Villiers Island,” reads a recent update from Waterfront Toronto on the project’s progress.

“We asked our design and engineering team, led by Entuitive with Grimshaw and Schlaich Bergermann, to create iconic bridges to move transit, cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles across the new Don River. After much feedback and cross-discipline collaboration, the result is a family of bridges we hope will become new Toronto landmarks.”