Rosedale Valley Bridge

The Rosedale Valley Bridge (also called the Rosedale Ravine Bridge[1]) is a covered arch bridge in the northeast of Downtown Toronto, Ontario. Built in 1966 by architect John B. Parkin (now part of Delcan Corporation), the concrete bridge carries Line 2 trains of the subway across the Rosedale Ravine.[2]

Rosedale Valley Bridge
Coordinates	43.67263°N 79.37071°W
Carries	Line 2 Bloor–Danforth
Crosses	Rosedale Ravine Rosedale Valley Road
Locale	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Other name(s)	Rosedale Ravine Bridge
Maintained by	Toronto Transit Commission
Characteristics
Design	Covered arch bridge
Material	Steel and concrete
No. of spans	1
History
Constructed by	John B. Parkin
Construction start	1965
Construction end	1966
Opened	February 2, 1966
Location

The eastern end of the Rosedale Valley Bridge is situated at the west end of Castle Frank station. The bridge itself runs on the north side of and almost parallel to the Rosedale section of the Prince Edward Viaduct. The viaduct opened in 1918 and had a lower deck over its entire length designed for rail transport. When the first phase of the Bloor subway line opened, its tracks used the lower deck of the main phase across the Don River Valley to the east as originally intended. However, since the approach curves leading to the Rosedale section would be too sharp for the trains, the dedicated Rosedale Valley Bridge was built to carry them, and the lower deck of the original viaduct remains unused.[3]

Although the bridge once had open skylights for ventilation, they were later covered to reduce noise to the surrounding area.[4] It can be seen from the north side of Bloor Street, which crosses from the adjacent Prince Edward Viaduct, or from below on Rosedale Valley Road which it passes over.

Other bridges

Besides the Rosedale Valley Bridge and Prince Edward Viaduct, there are three other bridges that span above Rosedale Valley Road:

• Glen Road Bridge: a pedestrian only deck truss bridge built after the 1950s to replace a late 19th Century road bridge
• Sherborne Street Bridge: original deck truss bridge was built before 1909, demolished in 1952 and replaced by current steel beam bridge
• Mount Pleasant Road Bridge: deck truss bridge built in 1943

References

1. "Rosedale Valley Subway Bridge, Toronto". Emporis. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
2. Landau, Jack (5 August 2016). "Photo of the Day: Rosedale Valley Bridge". UrbanToronto.ca. CHART Communications Inc. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
3. "Bloor Street Rosedale Valley Bridge". HistoricBridges.org. 20 June 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
4. Landau, Jack (2 June 2016). "Photo of the Day: Rosedale Valley Bridge". UrbanToronto.ca. CHART Communications Inc. Retrieved 13 September 2018.