The Corktown Footbridge (french: Passerelle Corktown) is a pedestrian

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

over the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal, also known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, connects Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston. It is 202 kilometres long. The name ''Rideau'', French for "curtain", ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The bridge is located about south of the

Laurier Avenue Bridge The Laurier Avenue Bridge is a bridge in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It carries Laurier Avenue over the Rideau Canal and also Colonel By Drive and Queen Elizabeth Driveway. The green steel arches makes the bridge one of the most recognizable in Ot ...

and connects the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

campus with the

Golden Triangle Golden Triangle may refer to: Places Asia * Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production * Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development * Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...

neighbourhood. It was opened on 21 September 2006. The bridge also connects the eastern and western sides of the Rideau Canal Pathway and has links to Colonel By Drive on its eastern side and to

Queen Elizabeth Driveway Queen Elizabeth Driveway is a scenic parkway in Ottawa, Canada, that runs along the western edge of the Rideau Canal. It runs from Laurier Avenue (Ottawa), Laurier Avenue in the north to Dow's Lake where it turns into Prince of Wales Drive (Ottawa ...

and Somerset Street on its western side. The bridge's name refers to a series of shanties built along the "Deep Cut" section of the Rideau Canal during its construction. Many of the labourers living in Corktown came from

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, giving it its name. The idea of a bridge between the University of Ottawa and the Golden Triangle dates back to the 1980s. It went through many years of review and feasibility studies with no success. The university and its students were strong supporters of concept, saying that the bridge would provide students with easier access to retail on Elgin Street and would connect the Golden Triangle to

uOttawa station uOttawa is a light rail transit (LRT) station on the O-Train Confederation Line, located on the University of Ottawa campus. Location Located just east of the Rideau Canal at the western terminus of Somerset Street (Ottawa), Somerset Street E ...

. City councillors

Diane Holmes Diane Holmes is a former Ottawa City Councillor representing Somerset Ward which consists of Centretown, Centretown West and the downtown core. She was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, and graduated from McGill University with a degree i ...

and

Clive Doucet Clive Doucet (born 1946) is a Canadian writer and politician. He served as the Ottawa City Councillor for Capital Ward from 1997 to 2010 and ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Ottawa in the 2010 Ottawa municipal election, finishing third with 15 pe ...

also lobbied heavily for the construction of a bridge. Finally, in January 2005, city council narrowly approved a $5 million bridge project. In spring of 2007, a naming committee was struck by councillors Diane Holmes and

Georges Bédard Georges Bédard (born c. 1946 in Ottawa, Ontario) is a former member of Ottawa City Council representing the ward (politics), ward of Rideau-Vanier Ward, Rideau-Vanier. This ward covers Lower Town, Sandy Hill, Ottawa, Sandy Hill, and Vanier, Ontari ...

, composed of stakeholders from communities on both sides of the bridge. The committee presented its report to a public meeting on May 29, 2007, where members of the public had an opportunity to express their preferred name from three shortlisted names: Somerset Footbridge,

Charlotte Whitton Charlotte Elizabeth Whitton (March 8, 1896 – January 25, 1975) was a Canadian feminist and mayor of Ottawa. She was the first woman mayor of a major city in Canada, serving from 1951 to 1956 and again from 1960 to 1964. Whitton was a Cana ...

Footbridge, and Corktown Footbridge. Public support for the "Corktown" name was overwhelming. The name was also promoted by groups such as the Ottawa District Labour Council, the

Bytown Museum The Bytown Museum (French: Musée Bytown) is a museum in Ottawa located in the Colonel By Valley at the Ottawa Locks of the Rideau Canal at the Ottawa River, just below Parliament Hill. Housed in the Commissariat Building, Ottawa's oldest remain ...

, and an ad-hoc group called "Friends of Corktown Bridge", which organized a

cèilidh A cèilidh ( , ) or céilí () is a traditional Scottish or Irish social gathering. In its most basic form, it simply means a social visit. In contemporary usage, it usually involves dancing and playing Gaelic folk music, either at a house p ...

in advance of the public meeting. The formal ceremony to name the Corktown Footbridge was held on 11 September 2007 led by Mayor

Larry O'Brien Lawrence Francis O'Brien Jr. (July 7, 1917September 28, 1990) was an American politician and basketball commissioner. He was one of the United States Democratic Party's leading electoral strategists for more than two decades. He served as Postm ...

. The Corktown Footbridge has numerous

love locks A love lock or love padlock is a padlock that significant other pairs lock to a bridge, fence, gate, monument, or similar public fixture to symbolize their love. Typically the sweethearts' names or initials, and perhaps the date, are inscribed ...

attached to its railing. In 2014, Professor Murat Saatcioglu of the

determined that there was no risk of structural collapse from the weight of the love locks attached to the railing of the bridge. In 2019 numerous of the love locks were removed due to "the amount, placement and clumping of locks," and that city staff routinely inspect the locks and removed damaged ones.

References

* This contains the official decision naming the Corktown Footbridge.

External links

{{Ottawa Bridges in Ottawa Bridges completed in 2006 Pedestrian bridges in Canada Irish-Canadian culture in Ontario 2006 establishments in Ontario