Hamilton Ontario - The Pearl Street bridge may well be Hamilton's oldest, and they're about to knock it down.
 
Built nearly 120 years ago, the bridge will be replaced.
 
That's a good thing.
 
But the old span deserves a eulogy.
 
The Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo Railway (TH&B) steamed into the new Hunter Street terminal in downtown Hamilton on 28 Dec 1895.
 
Hundreds of men worked around the clock to dig a trench four storeys deep.
 
They found prehistoric mammoth bones.
 
Three men died on the job.
 
For the section of track east of Queen, they created a tunnel by covering over the top of that chasm.
 
West of Queen, the suburbs back then, the big ditch remained an open wound.
 
Even then, the city knew you can't just carve up a neighbourhood.
 
So the railway agreed to build five bridges, at Ray, Pearl, Locke, Poulette, and Dundurn.
 
The TH&B said it would look after those bridges forever and a day.
 
They built them strong, using robust timber from old-growth trees.
 
The bridges were wide, plenty of room for horse and buggy traffic to move both ways.
 
Then the car came along and the bridges at Locke and Dundurn became modern paved thoroughfares.
 
The other three stayed just as they were.
 
In 1986, high winds tore some timbers loose on the Poulette Street bridge.
 
CP Rail, which had swallowed the TH&B, tore it down and promised to build a new one right away.
 
Never happened.
 
Seven years ago, the city said the bridge at Ray Street was unsafe.
 
It cost $250,000 to demolish and the railway didn't pay a dime.
 
The bridge was not replaced.
 
So that left just the one old wooden bridge, at Pearl Street.
 
Brian McHattie, councillor for the ward, is big on walkability.
 
He believes that when you cut off streets by knocking out bridges, it forces pedestrians out onto high-traffic thoroughfares.
 
People die or get hurt on those busy streets, and we've seen that already this year.
 
McHattie knew the Pearl bridge was nearing the end.
 
It has been closed to cars for nearly 60 years.
 
But foot traffic remained steady.
 
A count performed in the spring of 2008 showed about 230 people a day using the bridge.
 
Still, McHattie says, as far as the city considering funding for a new pedestrian bridge, "it was nowhere on the priority list".
 
However, in addition to voting on budgets for arterial roads, councillors do get to advocate for road projects in their own wards.
 
And McHattie did that for the Pearl Street bridge.
 
With demolition, the bridge will cost $770,000.
 
It's designed to last 75 years.
 
Pearl Street is one kilometre long.
 
It runs from York Boulevard, past fine churches, GO Transit stops, and homes big and small to its southern terminus, the recreation mecca that is the HAAA grounds, the Ryerson Rec Centre and, the Hamilton Tennis Club.
 
There are now pedestrian lights to get those on foot across the five fast lanes of traffic at Main and four at King.
 
So the whole length of Pearl becomes a safe, useful. and interesting walk.
 
As long as there's a bridge.
 
Work is already under way.
 
On 1 and 2 Apr 2014, crews strung netting underneath the bridge.
 
Tim Evans, project manager with the city's public works department, says that's to comply with the Migratory Birds Convention Act.
 
If birds had nested there this spring, it would delay the work.
 
Next step is to arrange with CP for a flag person so demolition can begin.
 
Those old timbers will be stripped off and tossed.
 
Then the supports will be dismantled.
 
The new bridge won't have any piers planted at track level to hold it up, just one span that crosses the chasm.
 
The bridge will be 36 metres long and five metres wide.
 
It's a steel structure, with handrail, lights, and hardwood deck.
 
Demolition should begin by the end of the month, but the bridge closes today.
 
Here's hoping you've already had a chance to tread those timbers and feel the history at your feet.
 
Paul Wilson.