When I think of the world’s longest enclosed pedestrian bridge, my guess wouldn’t be that it resides in Pickering, Ontario, but it does. The city, less than an hour east of Toronto, is home to a 250-metre-long bridge that has earned the title of longest enclosed pedestrian bridge anywhere on Earth.
The Pickering Pedestrian Bridge was completed in September 2018, “after nearly a decade of planning, design, and construction,” says Guinness World Records.
The bridge spans 14 lanes of Highway 401 (Canada’s busiest highway), six live rail tracks, and a two-lane municipal roadway. The purpose of the bridge was to connect Pickering Station train station (on the south side) to the region’s shopping mall, local college, and bus service on the north side.
In the evening, the bridge is lit up by 300 LED lights.
World record
The Pickering landmark received the title of longest enclosed pedestrian bridge in the world back in 2021, and that isn’t the only award it has received since being built.
In addition to the world record, the bridge received the City of Pickering’s 2019 Urban Design Award, and after a worldwide competition, Metrolinx also received the 2019 Engineering News-Record (ENR) Global Best Projects Award in the tunnel/bridge category for the Pickering Pedestrian Bridge.
According to Bruce Sevier, a senior manager with the Capital Projects Group at Metrolinx, “There had been talk for four decades in Pickering about building a bridge over Highway 401, so we knew the final project would have to be iconic – to quickly become part of the community.”
Maybe it’s time for a trip to Pickering GO Station just to check out this world-record-recognized landmark.
The Pickering Pedestrian Bridge
Where: 1322 Bayly St. – Pickering, Ont.
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