King Township completes Holland Marsh canal bridge replacement

'That was to improve the canals in order to provide flood protection and life safety to the people in the Holland Marsh'

Yorkregion.com
August 14, 2018
Sheila Wang

The new Graham Sideroad Bridge in the Township of King has opened to traffic with increased canal capacity.

The new bridge, completed in late June at the intersection of Graham Sideroad and Pump House Road, is the latest of the three canal bridge replacements in King Township over the past eight years.

The bridge replacements are part of the ongoing Holland Marsh Drainage Canal Improvement Project, which King Township and Bradford West Gwillimbury began work on in 2010.

An engineering report found five municipal structures -- three in King Township and two in Bradford West Gwillimbury -- needed to be replaced in order to provide enough conveyance, according to drainage superintendent Frank Jonkman.

“That was to improve the canals in order to provide flood protection and life safety to the people in the Holland Marsh,” Jonkman said.

The bridge replacement project started construction in 2017 and costed approximately $2.4 million. The new bridge still needs some minor work at the moment, such as landscaping.

The two other bridges -- Dufferin Street Bridge and Jane Street Bridge -- were replaced in 2014 and 2011 respectively for the same purpose.

King Township Mayor Steve Pellegrini said he was happy to see these bridge replacements were completed.

“We have to invest into the marsh to make it safe and function,” Pellegrini said. “Now that it’s done, it allows us to spend that two million dollars on roads in King.”

The Dufferin Street Bridge costed around $2.9 million and the Jane Street Bridge costed around $1.16 million, according to Jonkman.

Construction work is currently underway at South Canal underneath Highway 400. It's expected to be complete in late November.

“The canal system is unique in all of Ontario,” said Ward 6 Coun. Avia Eek.

The Holland Marsh covers about a 2,800-hectare area of organic land. King Township and the Bradford West Gwillimbury are two municipalities primarily involved in the marsh.

“It is an intensive vegetable growing area. It is a pretty important part of Ontario agriculture,” said Eek who is also a Holland Marsh farmer.

The marsh is considered a market garden for the Ontario and foreign markets, primarily producing carrots and onions, as well as lettuce, potatoes, celery, parsnips, cabbage, cauliflower and beets, according to the report.