As Rouge National Urban Park marks 10 years in existence, advocates of the protected green space are hoping the City of Toronto will be able to speed up the projected three-year closure of a key road that’s in place due to safety concerns involving a 75-foot bridge.
“It’s very significant. Our residents depend on Twyn Rivers and Sheppard as a regular route … that’s now being cut off,” Pickering Ward 1 Regional Coun. Maurice Brenner said, standing steps away from the eastern closure boundary.
“It most definitely is a vital connection point, and to set the record straight this isn’t a rural section. This is an environmentally protected area of a national park.
“What the City of Toronto has done is cut that park in half and said, ‘Pickering, you’re on one side. Toronto residents, you’re on the other side,’ and that’s wrong.”
Brenner is referring to the closure of Twyn Rivers Drive between east of Sheppard Avenue East in Scarborough and the Twyn Rivers Day Use area west of Woodview Avenue in Pickering.
It was ordered shut down more than a year ago because the single-lane Stott’s Bridge, which crosses the Rouge River, was deemed by City of Toronto staff to have deteriorated so badly that motorized vehicles could no longer pass on it. Pedestrians and cyclists can still use the bridge, but it isn’t easily accessible.
During a visit to the site, CityNews saw closure signage knocked over. At the bridge, it appeared there was a small fire where a few pylons once stood.
Twyn Rivers Drive is also one of the official evacuation routes for the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.
For drivers looking to get around the Twyn Rivers Drive closure, there are two routes:
- North: Sheppard Avenue East, Meadowvale Road, Plug Hat Road, Beare Road, Finch Avenue East, Woodview Avenue or Altona Road, Twyn Rivers Drive
- South: Sheppard Avenue East, Kingston Road, Altona Road and Twyn Rivers Drive
Brenner said in addition to providing an easier link to Toronto for west Pickering residents, the east-west road is a good, local back-up to Kingston Road and Highway 401 — the only two roads south that cross the Rouge River.
“My residents living up in the Altona north area are suffering right now,” he said, referring to traffic congestion on Kingston Road at rush hours.
Pauline Browes, a former Scarborough MP and minister of state for the environment in Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s government who went on to create the Friends of Rouge National Urban Park, echoed the importance of the road.
“Twyn Rivers Drive is one of the most beautiful roads within the Rouge because it goes right down into the valley, so even those people that are not able to access the trails are able to appreciate this most beautiful setting,” she said.
“This is 20,000 acres of land that’s surrounded by seven million people. It’s an oasis.”
A City of Toronto notice said construction of a permanent replacement wasn’t set to begin until early 2027. It wasn’t immediately clear when it would end. CityNews asked about the lengthy road closure. Spokesperson Laura McQuillan wrote in a statement that safety concerns arose during a routine inspection.
“A thorough assessment of bridge repair and replacement options confirmed that a full bridge replacement is required to ensure the long-term safety and viability of the structure,” she said.
“The detailed design of the new bridge is complex, as meeting current standards requires a larger structure, reconstructed approaches and watercourse realignment. This requires hydro relocations, tree removals, heritage and archaeological documentation, additional geotechnical studies, watercourse studies and excavation work.”
In March 2024, Toronto city council approved an environmental assessment looking at various bridges in Rouge National Urban Park. Bailey Bridge and Hillside Bridge are also set for full replacement.
Municipal staff said a temporary structure to replace Stott’s Bridge was ruled out due to cost and limited lifespan, which is something Brenner said Pickering officials were hoping for.
“There is no surprise that that bridge needed to be replaced,” he said.
“City of Toronto, just like City of Pickering, I’m sure — or should have been — over the years [putting] aside funds to ensure that bridge, in fact, could be repaired and or, as we later determined, replaced.”
CityNews contacted Coun. Paula Fletcher’s office, chair of the City of Toronto’s infrastructure and environment committee, to ask about the matter, but she wasn’t available for an interview.
Bridge issue underscores Toronto infrastructure deficit: expert
Matti Siemiatycki, director of the University of Toronto’s Infrastructure Institute, said the issue speaks to the broader problem of an infrastructure deficit and decay.
“When you have more problems than money, this is the type of circumstance you have where projects get deferred and delayed, and you have infrastructure that’s out of service for extended periods of time,” he told CityNews.
“We’ve been living off previous investments for a long time now — investments that were made in the ’60s, the ’70s, the ’80s — and the bill is coming due on making sure that that infrastructure is well maintained. We’ve had a long period where we held taxes at or below the rate of inflation, and so you’ve had a buildup in deferred maintenance.”
When asked generally about the Twyn Rivers Drive and Stott’s Bridge closures, Siemiatycki said the timeframe strongly suggests it all comes down to money.
“The bridge itself could probably be fixed quite quickly in terms of the construction itself, in terms of the planning and design work,” he said.
“Certainly globally, there are instances where bridges are fixed in a weekend, where they do careful planning in advance. So planning happens long in advance of that weekend. Oftentimes, they pre-fabricate parts of the construction then they bring in heavy equipment to help move the pieces around.”
Currently, there isn’t a sitting councillor for where Twyn Rivers Drive is located. With a byelection set to be held to fill the Toronto Ward 25 Scarborough-Rouge Park seat left vacant after Jennifer McKelvie resigned, there are hopes the incoming representative will push to expedite the project.
“People are going to be going to the polls. They need to talk to the candidates. Are they prepared to fight to move this as a priority?” Brenner said, adding other Toronto council members need to be aware too.
“I think it’s important for us, as Friends of the Rouge National Urban Park, to put a little pressure on the City of Toronto. I certainly know that Parks Canada would like to have this open as soon as possible,” Browes added.
