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Bridge to connect city to Fort York

For years, Fort York has been separated from the harbour it once protected and the city it defended, hemmed in by the Gardiner Expressway and a rail corridor.

But construction of a new pedestrian-cyclist bridge over the railway tracks, which begins next year as part of a $35 million revitalization of the national historic site, will once again connect the fort with city neighbourhoods to the north and waterfront trails to the south.

"One of our biggest challenges over the years has been accessibility and the ability to have a good physical presence," says museum administrator David O'Hara. The bridge will link the northwest portion of the 18-hectare park to the south side of Wellington St. east of Strachan Ave.

Paths from the fort, built by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe on the shores of Lake Ontario in 1793, once connected it to the Town of York – Toronto's birthplace and founded by Simcoe the same year.

Future plans call for a bike trail south of Front St. through existing parks, which will form an east-west link from the fort to downtown.
Read entire article at The Star