Anybody know what this is?

[Lone Primate]

This is on the Rouge River a little south of Finch on what I think is technically Zoo land. I've wondered for years now exactly what it is/was and what it's for. I once wondered if it had something to do with the monorail but it's nowhere near where the track was. Anyone know the story?

Note: these views are 3D. Just cross your eyes and you're there.

Location's here...

 

[bAuHaUs]

pedestrian bridge to nowhere?

 

[spider]

Yellow

 

[Goldie]

I wonder if it was once intended to carry a natural gas pipeline to the zoo.
Just guessing!

 

[mattelderca]

Interesting, and by google satellite there appears to a be a service rd to it.
A thought, at one time (and I really have little knowledge of this) the zoo planned a natural Canadian wilderness type area. Maybe this was for a barrier across the river to keep the larger wildlife in. I,m thinking moose and the like.

 

[EVCco]

Another wilderness mystery!
I love it! - whatever it is.......

 

[HamiltonTransitHistory]

I wonder if it was once intended to carry a natural gas pipeline to the zoo.
Just guessing!

I think Goldie's right, I think this this is an old bridge for utilities, i.e gas, water, sewage. I'd guess that when the zoo was built it was so far from the rest of the city utilities that a special route was laid from the west just for the needed utilities. Later, when Scarborough expanded and the sprawl reached the Sheppard/Meadowvale area, the zoo was connected up from the south and the old route abandoned. But this is all a guess.

 

[EVCco]

^Not unlike this one over the West Highland, come to think of it:

 

[Lone Primate]

Interesting! I think you guys may have sussed it. One of the things that crossed my mind was that some kind of pipe might have gone on, or through, the latticework, but it never really convinced me. This does. I don't think we can swear to it, but I'm pretty sure you've got the answer. I couldn't convince myself it was a pedestrian bridge because it just doesn't look like the kind of structure that you'd build for that, and besides... from where, to where? But this photo really seems to put all that to rest.

 

[aliamiri]

pedestrian bridge to nowhere?

LMAO good one!

 

[kram74]

why on earth would anyone commit so much time and energy to building a bridge to nowhere. ... what happen... did they give up have way through?.....

 

[Lone Primate]

Anybody got any follow-ups for this one?

 

[themarc]

Anybody got any follow-ups for this one?

What was the route for the old Zoo train? Maybe they roughed that in for expansion or it went to the old train garage?