The Crescent Town pedestrian bridge is back

By AMANDA DA SILVA

The Crescent Town pedestrian bridge is back.

Construction work to install the new bridge was completed on Wednesday, Feb. 12.

It marked the end of a long wait for the community as the bridge partially collapsed and was then torn down in November of 2018.

Approximately 15 feet high, the concrete on the bridge’s walkway partially collapsed onto the Massey Square road below on Nov. 17, 2018. Eventually the structure had to be completely removed.

According to Crescent Town Elementary School principal Avinash Mani there has been “excitement” and “anticipation” when the news first broke out that the new bridge was going to installed.

“It’s extremely, extremely important because the bridge linked the school with the neighbourhood buildings,” said Mani.

“It is the main way that all of our families access the school.”

Since the bridge collapsed, the Crescent Town community had been advocating for its repair as the bridge was a safe way to cross above street level with cars passing by underneath along Massey Square road.

“Our students and our families really advocated for safety,” Mani said.

“We were meeting in the summer, before school started, to put in certain things in place and one of the things in place was to have a regular crossing guard there.”

After the community had a regular crossing guard guiding families across on street level, they made sure to have lines painted and stop signs placed to ensure the safety of the children.

“When the bridge first collapsed our students had written letters and were interviewed in local media about getting the bridge restructured,” Mani said. “They were excited because they knew that their voices were heard.”

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