Cultural Landmarks of Hamilton-Wentworth

Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway

Location: Part of the Queen Elizabeth Way crossing the Burlington Canal along Hamilton’s Beach Strip.

As automobile traffic began to increase in the early years of the twentieth century it soon became apparent that a bridge to accommodate this traffic was needed to enable cars to cross over the Burlington Canal. The first bridge specifically designed for automobile traffic was built in 1922. Subsequent bridges were built over the years to deal with the increasing traffic. In the years prior to World War II Thomas Baker McQuesten stated the need for a larger bridge to deal with the volume of traffic. He saw such a bridge as an integral part of the road transportation system of the province of Ontario. If not for the war, it is likely that a bridge would have been constructed much earlier.

A single event at the canal forced the province into immediate consideration of building the bridge. On April 29, 1952 the sand-laden W.E. Fitzgerald, coming through the canal into the harbour, collided with the north span of the old bascule bridge, toppling it into the canal, "a crumpled mass of twisted wreckage". It was a fortuitous accident. The Spectator noted the next day in an editorial "In this case, a hopelessly inadequate bascule bridge was nudged into destruction; a tenuous, though vital link in the province’s highway network was severed, and one government, perhaps two, was pushed into a bridge-building project."

Because of the accident the City of Hamilton was faced with detouring hundreds of thousands of cars through the city. It wasn’t until 3 1/2 months after the accident that a temporary north span was completed and motor traffic could flow again. It was now increasingly obvious that two lanes through the beach strip were woefully inadequate to cope with traffic that sometimes reached 2,000 cars per hour during the summer months.

Charges and counter charges flowed back and forth between the Federal and Provincial governments for the next three years until an arrangement was reached to share the cost of a new bridge. From the early days of planning for the bridge over the canal it was called the Burlington Beach Skyway Bridge, later amended to the Burlington Bay Skyway Bridge.

In 1954 the estimated cost of the bridge was placed at $13,300,000 and the estimated cost of the entire project was placed at $16 million.

The agreement saw the province assume two-thirds of the cost and the federal government assume one-third of the cost on the understanding that the province would assume full responsibility for traffic over the canal. Construction of this larger bridge would enable the removal of the low level bridge entirely.

In 1954 it was announced that the Foundation of Canada Engineering Corporation Ltd. would be in charge of the project. P.L. Pratley was to direct the design of the superstructure. At the time he was the most outstanding bridge engineer in Canada. It took 2 1/2 years from the demolition of the earlier bridge to come up with any concrete announcement on its replacement. Most of the discussion centred on the cost sharing.

Arthur Sedgwick was announced as the coordinator of the project. He had served as a designer of bridges for the Ontario Department of Highways for forty-five years. and was the chief bridge engineer for the province from 1929 until his retirement in May of 1954.

It was announced that the bridge and approaches would be ready in 2 1/2 to 3 years.

At the time this project was the largest steel construction job pending in Canada and possibly in all of North America and, when constructed, would be the longest bridge in Canada at 7,700 feet in length and the second longest bridge in North America, second only to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (which had an overall length of 9,266 feet).

Ted Smith, the mayor of Burlington, greeted the announcement of the bridge project with skepticism: "I can’t help thinking of the old Missouri saying, I’ll believe the province is going to do something when I see actual construction started. It seems like a lifetime that we’ve been waiting for action."

The planned bridge was to be a huge steel structure with a 120 foot clearance over the ship canal. The total length would be 7,700 feet or 1.6 miles. It would have 24 foot roadways on either side of a central 6 foot boulevard and there would be walkways 3 feet wide on either side of the four lane bridge roadway. They expected the bridge to handle a capacity of three thousand vehicles in both directions each hour or a maximum of 50,000 vehicles daily.

Construction started in October of 1954 under the leadership of the Minister of Highways for Ontario, the Hon. James N. Allan. Geotechnical Services of Toronto and Montreal began making test borings along the shoreline to compile a report on the soil and rock conditions to establish the type of foundations that would be needed for the high pillars that would support the bridge. At the same time the architectural design consultants were chosen and announced by Foundation of Canada Engineering Corporation Ltd. as the firm of William R. Souter & Associates of Hamilton.

There was considerable ground work to be done to prepare the surface. There were roughly 360,000 cubic yards of fill needed to complete 7,000 feet. The McNamara Construction Company undertook this work to provide a rock dyke fill of 40,000 cubic yards, granular fill of 5,500 yards and sand fill of 315,000 cubic yards.

At this time it was announced that the new bridge would have another innovation. An ultra modern complement to the Skyway would be the installation of fluorescent lighting throughout its length as an added safety factor for traffic.

Tenders for construction work were awarded in August of 1955 to Pigott Construction Company for the northern and central sections of the substructure and to S. McNally and Sons for the southern section of the substructure. This work commenced in March of 1955. The earth works were completed by September and at that time the province announced the anticipated completion date for the project as December 31, 1957.

The steel work approaching spans contract was awarded to Runnymede Construction Company of Toronto.

In April of 1956, in a surprise announcement, the Federal Government suddenly withdrew their financial support from the project. The Hon. William K. Warrender, Ontario Minister for Planning and Development, described this decision as "most unfair" as the large cost of the bridge was caused in no small part by the federal government’s navigation regulations which ruled the bottom of the bridge had to be 122 feet from the water in the canal. Arthur Child, M.L.A. and a member of the provincial toll road committee slammed their withdrawal of financial aid as a move to give itself a "sunshine budget before an election." However, it turned out that the Federal decision had been reached in consultation with the Province of Ontario as the only way to prevent the imposition of what the province saw as impossible conditions on the project. The Hon. James N. Allan said that the withdrawal of federal support would not affect the province’s plans but might necessitate charging tolls on the bridge. If this were to happened the Skyway would become the first toll bridge in Ontario other than the International Bridges to the United States. This was the first mention of the possibility of charging tolls on the new bridge. As the construction continued, the debate over tolls escalated.

"Ontario’s grand old man of the good roads movement, T.J. Mahony of Hamilton, is prepared to bet that tolls will be charged. "If a man can afford to spend anywhere from $2,000 to $7,000 for a car," he says, "then he can afford to spend an extra ten cents or so to help defray the cost of special roads which will get him there faster"."

Concrete pillars were being erected in the summer of 1956. A steel shortage in late 1956 delayed construction and the completion date was now estimated for late summer of 1958. The steel to be used in the approach spans was to be a type of high tensile steel new to major bridge construction in Canada.

During the construction of the bridge the province enacted legislation turning over the administration of Burlington Beach to the City of Hamilton. The bill for annexation had its third and final reading in March of 1956. Burlington Beach had been governed by a three man commission appointed by the province since 1907. This annexation by the city ended the last commission form of government in Ontario. The annexation took effect on January 1, 1957.

In February of 1957 the question of tolls was decided when the province announced that a toll of twety-five cents each way would commence upon opening.

On September 3, 1957 a 40 ton crane was hit by high winds and toppled onto 110,000 volt high tension wires. The operator leaped to safety a split second before it fell and was not injured. A parked car was hit by the crane and the occupant was injured. His injuries were not serious.

Although the name of the bridge had been discussed during planning the serious discussion began with an editorial in the Hamilton Spectator October 11, 1957. Suggestions included Hamilton City Council’s of the Hamilton Skyway. This was a change from the previous year when they had supported naming the bridge after Thomas Baker McQuesten. They did not want to call the bridge the Burlington Skyway since Burlington Beach was now part of Hamilton.

Burlington’s immediate response was to petition the province to retain the name Burlington Skyway. "It is apparent that the city council of that smoky municipality across the Bay does not realize that the new Burlington will occupy a substantial portion of the shoreline of what they seem to regard as their private lake."

In September of 1957 the first fatality during the construction of the bridge occurred. An eighteen year old apprentice, Kenneth Austin, fell 95 feet off the bridge after missing his step.

On December 14, 1957 at exactly 2:43 p.m. the great arching centre span was finished and structurally the bridge was completed. Ontario Highways Minister James N. Allan was present for the moment along with other dignitaries who retired afterwards to the Brant Inn for a celebration.

In the fall of 1957 a design flaw in one of the overpasses was detected. It sloped in the wrong direction. To correct the error added $12,000 to the cost. The contracting firm denied responsibility stating "We built it exactly according to specifications we received from the highways department."

On March 19, 1958 Highways Minister Allan introduced enabling legislation providing for the establishment of a toll authority for Ontario.

On May 29, 1958 Hamilton’s city council amended their previous position on a name for the bridge. They now supported calling it the Thomas B. McQuesten Skyway. Burlington immediately set out to gather names on a petition to request that the bridge be called the Burlington Skyway Bridge. This petition, with 5,000 names on it, was sent to the Minister in June.

At 10 a.m. on June 19, 1958 the boom of a crane fell and crushed seven parked cars. Damage was estimated at $15,000. The crane operator was treated for minor cuts and there were no other injuries.

As the opening date approached the debate over tolls continued with the province not committing itself either way. Beach residents and others opposed tolls, fearing trucks would bypass the skyway and continue to use the beach roads. Burlington protested, fearing increased truck traffic past their proposed new Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital.

The province finally decided that tolls would be imposed on the new bridge but that they would not start until November 10, 1958 ten days after the bridge was formally opened.

Opening ceremonies for the brand new bridge were set for October 30, 1958. Premier Leslie Frost and a host of dignitaries were present on the brand new pale green span at 11 a.m. The ribbon cutting took place on the bay side where the bridge joins with the approaches at the north end. Premier Frost kept his remarks brief "I am heeding the advice given me that the top of this great structure is not a good place to make a speech" as he officially opened the now officially named Burlington Bay Skyway Bridge. Other speeches were made by Lloyd D. Jackson, Mayor of Hamilton, the Hon. William K. Warrender, Q.C., Minister of Municipal Affairs, the Hon. James N. Allan, Provincial Treasurer and Minster of Public Works and former Minister of Highways, Fred. M. Cass, Q.C., Minister of Highways and the Rev. Stanley Vance, Minister of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church who dedicated the bridge. After the dedication the Premier and his party launched the Skyway on its career by heading the first convoy over the canal as far as the Queen Elizabeth Way to the south, then back again and on to the Brant Inn for a reception and luncheon. As soon as they finished the bridge was opened to the general public.

The province published a press release giving the statistics for the new Burlington Bay Skyway Bridge:

Length: 8,400 feet

Number of spans in bridge: 75 on 76 piers

Central Span: 495 feet

Adjoining spans: 275 feet each

Spans: 22 truss spans ranging from 250 to 160 feet long; 18 plate girder spans 85 feet long; 32 rolled beam spans 48 feet long

Piers: 2 main piers extend to a depth of 38 feet below ground level with steel piles extending another 45 feet below that

Minimum width: 61 feet

Maximum width: 97 feet

Maximum height: 210 feet

Clearance under bridge: 120 feet

Number of tons of reinforcing steel needed: 4,500

Number of tons of structural steel needed: 17,500

Number of tons of reinforced concrete needed: 88,000

On Monday, November 10, 1958 at 12 noon the Skyway became a toll road.

The following were the toll rates:

The beach residents’ earlier concerns about the toll road and trucks not wanting to pay to use it soon proved prophetic. Few trucks were using the Skyway, preferring to travel along the Beach and avoid the toll. They resented the forty-five cent toll and the extra gas needed to get their trucks up the gradient in the bridge. In the first year the average weekly traffic across the bridge was 66,997 vehicles. From April 1 until September 16, 1959 the bridge saw traffic of 2,989,000 passenger cars, 80,000 light trucks and 46,000 heavy trucks. An average of forty heavy trucks per hour were bypassing the Skyway and traveling along the Beach Strip.

Suggestions were made to reduce the toll for trucks and move the toll gate to the west end of the bridge to eliminate the stop at the toll booth before the long grade.

At the toll booths there were 25 collectors, 5 toll captains, a clerical staff of 4 and a maintenance staff of 8.

On December 21, 1959 tenders were called for a new two storey toll plaza administration building. That same month a snow melting system was installed on the bridge to avoid use of salt which would damage the bridge. Covering 60,000 square feet it would be effective for the area of stopping and starting for a distance of 150 feet on either side of the toll booth. It operated by circulating an anti-freeze solution through a grid of 1 1/4 inch pipes set on 17 inch centres installed in the surface of the roadway.

After a year in operation the tolls were bringing in $15,000 to $17,000 per week and the trucks were still shunning it. Critics described the operation as "an alarming failure". Revenues were half what had been expected.

"This toll is a disastrous failure and the quicker you get it off the better" (Harry Nixon, (L-Brant)).

The province began looking at the possibility of cutting tolls to encourage trucks to use the bridge.

At 10 a.m. on Tuesday April 4, 1961 automatic toll machines were introduced on the Skyway. There were two lanes in each direction with the other three lanes each way still manned.

In 1964 a truck ban on the beach strip was implemented by Hamilton City Council and on July 14, 1964 a reduction in tolls was announced to take effect on July 23. This reduction was to affect all heavy vehicles over 1 ton. Class 1 vehicles could purchase 40 tickets for $4 and class 3 vehicles could purchase 40 tickets for $6.00. This reduced the toll by almost 50%.

The bridge was repaved in the spring of 1967.

The first mention of twinning the Skyway appeared in the newspaper in June of 1969.

On April 27, 1972 tolls increased for passenger cars from 15 cents to 25 cents per trip or from $1.00 for 20 tokens to $2.00 for 20 tokens.

In 1972 it was announced that traffic had doubled in volume since the Skyway opened and a new bridge or tunnel was becoming imperative. The Ontario government at this time announced that there were three possible options to deal with the increased traffic flow. Option one was to tear down the bridge and built a multi-lane tunnel. Option two was to twin the existing bridge. Option three was to add a tunnel next to the bridge. To decide on which option they should choose the provincial government held information sessions for the public.

The budget speech in 1973 finally dealt with the question of the removal of tolls. "These tolls have proven to be costly and troublesome. They are not in accord with the Government’s over-all policy of toll-free highways and bridges. This removal should speed up traffic and eliminate irritation to commuters, tourists and truck drivers." It was announced that the last toll would be collected at 11 p.m. on June 30, however, on June 23 it was announced that the tolls would continue until December 31. One of the reasons given for this extension was the fact that of the seventy-four employees that would lose their jobs only thirteen had found alternate jobs. They also said that they needed the extra time to study traffic patterns to determine whether a twin bridge or a tunnel should be built.

The end of tolls on the Skyway came on December 28, 1973 at 11 p.m. One of the toll collectors was quoted "When it comes I’m going to have me a little refreshment. I’ve got 24 pints sitting in the trunk of my car because I didn’t know the brass was going to be here. But brass or no brass, I won’t let that stop me."

Steelworker Jim Mutch was the first official toll-free driver although the last half dozen cars before the 11 p.m. deadline were just waved through.

On September 25, 1973 trucks were banned from the passing lane on the bridge. This was protested by truckers but this action led to a significant reduction in traffic accidents. They still had a lot of accidents though. The 1975 statistics showed that the Skyway had 4.2 accidents per million vehicle miles as opposed to the provincial average of 1.8.

A 1972-1973 feasibility study recommended that the Queen Elizabeth Way from Guelph Line to Highway 20 be expanded to at least eight lanes and that several interchanges be rebuilt. The study also called for three tunnels: one for northbound traffic, one for southbound traffic and one for buses. Between this report and January of 1977 the province bought up eighty-four properties at a cost of $1.7 million for the proposed construction.

During the late 1970’s increasing pressure began to build to deal with the traffic problems on the bridge. A study was commissioned, to be done by McCormick, Rankin and Associates Ltd. to be completed in December of 1978 to look into a long term plan for an alternate route to the Skyway.

It was announced in September of 1978 that an alternative to the Skyway would be due in three years and was a top priority for the province. In 1979 the government announced that the ultimate solution - bridge or tunnel - was at least ten years away.

In March of 1979 Transportation Minister James Snow announced that $57 million would be spent on reconstruction. The first stage would widen the road across the Beach Strip to four lanes and widen the lift bridge. The second stage would widen the Queen Elizabeth Way between Burlington Street and Highway 403 to six lanes and would either enlarge the Skyway or build a ten lane tunnel. The third stage would widen the Queen Elizabeth Way between Guelph Line and Highway twenty to eight lanes.

The Ontario environmental assessment report showed a tunnel would be more popular with the public and safer than a bridge but it would be $20-$30 million more expensive. Therefore they recommended a new five lane bridge to the west of the existing bridge.

The Spectator quoted a poem on the traffic problem on February 28, 1981:

O Queen’s Park, can’t you see our most dangerous plight,
How so badly you fail and without any meaning,
All the cars and the trucks on their perilous flight
O’er the Skyway they trek, with their wheels careening.

In May of 1981 the Ministry of the Environment stunned area politicians and the Transport Ministry by announcing that there was no need to twin the Skyway. The Minister of Transport, James Snow, announced that this development left him "totally frustrated".

Premier William Davis endorsed the twinning of the Skyway at a fundraising dinner in Hamilton on June 15, 1981.

In October of 1981 the Provincial cabinet gave final approval to the first phase of the project that would eventually see the twinning of the Skyway.

The councils of Burlington and the Region of Halton jointly endorsed a twin Skyway in July of 1982, joining Hamilton and Hamilton-Wentworth.

In August of 1982 Environment Minister Keith Norton announced that the bridge twinning could go ahead without an environmental hearing.

Soil tests began in September of 1982 and the first phase was underway with improvements to bridge approaches.

In October of 1982 the last obstacle was overcome when the Lieutenant-Governor signed an order in council confirming the final environmental approval. The cost estimate for the project was $38.7 million.

The lowest bid was submitted by Pigott Construction of Hamilton and the work began.

The centre span of the bridge was to use reinforced concrete beams under the cement driving deck. The approaches to the centre span would have girders of structural steel. This was to be the first time that a balanced cantilever construction technique would be used in Ontario and only the fourth time in Canada.

The centre span was to be 300 metres (1,000 feet) long and the two approaches would total 2.200 metres (7,260 feet).

This twin bridge would provide five lanes of traffic in one direction while the existing bridge would be converted to five lanes in the other direction.

On July 25, 1983 James Snow, Transportation Minister, presided at the ground breaking ceremony.

The province, in honour of James N. Allan’s 90th birthday, announced on November 13, 1984, that the twinned Burlington Bay Skyway Bridge would be named the James N. Allan Skyway and signs to this effect were erected. An immediate outcry arose in opposition to the province’s announced name change and within twenty-four hours the new signs had been removed. The province proposed a compromise and suggested that the new name be James Allan (Burlington Bay) Skyway.

Transport Minister James Snow received an 18,000 name petition in favour of the original name. After a cabinet meeting January 17, 1985 the new name was announced as Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway.

On November 30, 1984 the two bridges were joined. This twinning was the biggest construction project ever undertaken by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Despite this, construction went so smoothly that in June of 1985 the project was a full year ahead of schedule. The bridge was 43 metres (141 feet) high and had used 12,000 tonnes (13,200 tons) of steel and 134,000 tonnes (147,000 tons) of reinforced concrete.

On October 10, 1985 the official opening of the $41.8 million Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway took place at midspan. In attendance was James N. Allan himself.

The first accident on the new bridge took place fourteen minutes after it was officially opened with a fender bender between two cars driven by officials involved in the ceremony.

The southbound lanes were opened to traffic October 18 and the northbound lanes opened December 3.

The new bridge had a freeway traffic management system which included TV monitoring and changeable message signs to advise motorists on traffic conditions. This was the first system of its kind installed on a highway in Canada.

There was also a variable lighting system which was controlled by computerized equipment that automatically adjusted to dusk and night time conditions.

The old Skyway bridge then closed for refurbishing. The old Skyway was to be used for northbound traffic and the new twin bridge for southbound traffic.

Structural rehabilitation of the old bridge included removal and replacement of the concrete deck and miscellaneous structural steel repairs. The estimated cost for this work was $11 million.

The second construction fatality on the Skyway occurred on July 2, 1987 when a high metal worker fell to his death. He was carrying a sheet of steel when a gust of wind blew him off. He was wearing a safety belt but it was not attached to the bridge. He fell in the canal and drowned.

Work on rehabilitation began again, after a break for winter, in March of 1988. The estimated cost now reached $16 million.

On August 22, 1988 the Minister of Transportation, Ed Fulton, officially re-opened the re-built Skyway and the first traffic crossed the bridge the following morning. James N. Allan was present at the re-dedication.

James Noble Allan died in 1992 at the age of ninety-eight.

The Skyway has become a defining image for the eastern entrance to Hamilton and is part of the colourful cultural landscape of Hamilton-Wentworth.

References:
Burlington Bay Skyway Bridge Scrapbooks.  Special Collections, HPL.
Burlington Skyway. Department of Highways: Toronto, 1960.
Burlington Skayway Bridge. Onatrio Department of Highways, 1958. (Official Road Bulletin of Ontario, Novemeber, 1958).