Five striking timber footbridges will connect the water’s edge promenade and boardwalk making the waterfront more enjoyable than ever before.

One of the defining features of the water’s edge promenade and boardwalk planned for Toronto’s downtown waterfront is a series of five iconic timber footbridges that will allow people to stroll across the inner harbour’s slip basins and inlets.

This family of footbridges will create a waterfront link between the major destinations that line the central waterfront including the Music Garden, HtO Park, Harbourfront Centre and Queens Quay Terminal.

In addition to connecting the water’s edge, the footbridges located at the Police Basin and the Spadina, Peter, Rees, and Simcoe slips will help establish an immediately recognizable identity for the waterfront.

The design for the footbridges, by renowned landscape architects West 8 + DTAH, will compliment the lakefront landscape while providing a memorable experience for visitors to the waterfront.

a family of footbridges

While all of the footbridges will be defined by their robust, timber construction, each will have its own unique features and characteristics based on location and the amount of marine activity in its slip.

Two of the five footbridges, at the Rees and Simcoe slips, will be lift bridges. These lift bridges will allow boats to access the active marinas in those slips.

At the Police Basin slip, a dramatic arched footbridge has been designed to accommodate police boats that need to exit quickly in an emergency without waiting for a lift bridge to rise.

The arched footbridges at the Spadina and Peter slips will accommodate a wide variety of land and marine-based users. While neither slip has an active marina, the design of the bridges allows enough clearance for the harbour cleaning boat and the other smaller motorized and non-motorized craft that regularly use the slips.