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| Top, bridge before 1972 |
As many people will know, the venerable (built 1956) pedestrian bridge at the CNIB is now undergoing necessary renovations and will be open again in the Spring of 2014. It’s not a moment too soon really because the bridge records close to 5,000 crossings a month, most of which are made by vision impaired people. For the first 16 years of its life, those who used it did so out in the open. In 1972 a roof was added. By 2011, the old bridge needed work and was closed. A recent grant of $880,000 from the federal government has made its renewal possible. Any way you look at it, the bridge is a necessary facility for those who use transit to come and go from the many medical services now housed in the new complex on the east side. The growing residential community located east of Bayview also uses the bridge. In November there was a turning of soil by Don Valley West MP John Carmichael and others to mark the beginning of work. When finished, the whole facility will be an asset of which the community can be proud. It will feature an elevator on the west side of the bridge that will employ high contrast, Brailled buttons with audio accompaniment and a ramp on the east side of the bridge that will replace the current stairs to provide fully accessible access from the bridge to the building’s entrance. There will be lighting active during the day and evening and tactile surfaces throughout the bridge structure to assist with navigation and orientation.
