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Categories: RenderingsWindsor

Dougall Avenue Subway – 1930

From the Border Cities Star – May 6, 1930:

    This sketch shows the manner in which the Dougall Avenue subway under the M.C.R. will be widened in accordance with an order of the Board of Railway Commissioners. The section on the left is the present subway. The present eastern abutment will be cut down to form a pier, and a new abutment will be built 30 feet to the east, forming two 30-foot roadways, with a centre pier between.


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Here’s the same bridge today. The western half is the original, while the eastern half is the “new” section built in 1930.

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Thank you to everyone who’s placed orders already. Once the pre-sale period closes, I’ll be in touch.

Andrew

View Comments

  • I had no idea it was two phases. Anyone know when the first part was built? And wasn't there another bridge close by that has since been removed?

  • They totally forgot about pedestrians and cyclists back then, and have yet to address that issue. I actually believe this, along with EC Row and the Grand Marais ditch were in part meant to create a buffer between "old Windsor" and "new Windsor".

  • There were actually two more viaducts over Dougall (A total of 3). The bridge depicted here carried the main line, where as the other two bridges connected the two rail yards. (There used to be a large rail yard where The Roundhouse Centre is now).

    The two other bridges last saw use in the 70s, however they were not dismantled until around 1998-1999. The red viaduct in this article still see's use by CN.

  • Was there not an idea of pedestrian / cyclist tunnels on both sides into the embankment ? These would be long and wide tunnels, well lit and maybe art work to give a Paris subway feel to it ( my thought ). This would connect south windsor with the rest of the city in a grand path manner. This would encourage non-vehicular traffic from the burbs.

  • PeterD, you don't really beleive that this stuff was designed to seperate the city, do you?

    A side from the fact that the ditch is a natural water feature, and is actually named Turkey Creek, those rail lines, ALL rail lines in this city including the Essex Terminal, were built thru farmers feilds. As a matter of fact, reading the history of the Essex Terminal,there is a funny instance when there was a delay building the tracks approaching Dougal from the East. The superintendent of the railway says to the forman something like "why the hell havn't the tracks been completed past this road?!?!" and the foreman replies "because the farmer hasn't moved his G** Damn manure piles yet!". This is near 1915 too. I don't think when this was built they gave any consideration to people and bikes because people rode bikes on the street thru MINIMAL traffic out this far. I could be wrong, but if you were headed to anything past this point on your bike in the 30's you'd have had a damn good reason. There were probably homes along the creek and a few scattered show homes for prospective sub divisions,maybe a little development in these sub divisions, and that's about it. If you lived in one of those houses, you probably had a car anyways.

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