Ontario’s first modern timber pedestrian bridge will open to the public later today, a 52-metre clear-span arch lifted across the historic Rideau Canal in a single piece and built almost entirely from Canadian wood. That is according to the Town of Smiths Falls, which confirmed the ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the official opening of the eastern Ontario crossing.
Glulam arches were delivered to the site only after the old crossing had been demolished, a sequence Shoaib Ali, StructureCraft’s DowelLam projects lead, described as the first pieces of a new structure taking shape. Ali said the design set out to honour the Rideau Canal’s history and environment as much as to showcase the timber engineering.
Tapered Alaskan yellow cedar gives the arches their form, while a pair of glulam members, shaped to follow the firm’s “flow of forces,” supports them. Rising close to 9 metres above the deck, the arches span the canal in one unbroken sweep and carry a doubly curved metal roof that sheds rainwater without gutters.
Choosing a single lift was a structural decision before a logistical one, with the clear-span alignment settled so the canal could be bridged without staged construction over the water or temporary supports within it. Concrete abutments were cast behind the existing canal walls, carrying the new loads whilst leaving the heritage masonry of the UNESCO-listed waterway intact, an approach to building over a sensitive waterway that mirrors timber crossings elsewhere in Canada.
Durability shaped the detailing as closely as the geometry did, with the structure stepping down from timber to stone-clad concrete at the abutments to limit the lower arch’s exposure to moisture. Covered decking performs the same work overhead, providing a protective approach to exposed mass timber, and the town requested an extension of the bridge’s service life.
Natural Resources Canada provided partial funding through the Green Construction Through Wood programme, a federal scheme tied to a wider push to favour domestic timber in public works as Canada hardens its procurement against reliance on imported materials. It comes as Carleton MP Bruce Fanjoy ties the crossing to that effort, calling it proof that Canadian timber can carry public infrastructure.
“Our government is investing in new community infrastructure that prioritizes Canadian materials,” Fanjoy said.
Confederation Drive’s old vehicle bridge, decommissioned in 2015, made way for the crossing, restoring a pedestrian and cycling route between Centennial and Veterans’ Memorial Parks that had been severed for more than a decade. Landscape architect Fotenn Planning + Design shaped the setting, with the bridge positioned as a new landmark in the Smiths Falls downtown core.
