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Note: The technical facts and Historic Significance Rating refer to this bridge prior to replacement of the swing span.
This bridge consists of a series of concrete t-beam spans that share a common substructure with a dam, and their is a pony truss swing span over the canal. There are locks at this point for boats. The concrete t-beam spans remain original and largely unaltered. The swing span however was completely demolished and replaced. The replacement bridge does a very good job of simulating the appearance of the original heritage swing span, including even the use of built-up beams with v-lacing, something not normally used in modern construction. However, the bridge uses bolts instead of rivets. Such a project cannot be called heritage bridge preservation, nor can the replacement bridge be considered to have any heritage value or significance. However, it does offer more interpretive value than a typical modern bridge would offer. The bridge does simulate the appearance of the heritage bridge, and it continues to swing open for boats allowing visitors to see how the heritage swing bridge would have moved. However note that all mechanical mechanisms on the modern bridge appear to use hydraulics, which the heritage bridge did not. Furthermore, it is worth considering: did the bridge really need to be replaced. Severe deterioration of the heritage bridge seemed, like many deteriorated truss bridges, to be largely limited to the bottom chord and perhaps the flooring system. If a rehabilitation project had been designed that replaced the bottom chord and flooring system in kind, while simply repairing the rest of the truss, such a project could have been deemed a heritage preservation project, rather than a demolition and replacement project. If carefully designed and executed, such a rehabilitation would have made the bridge like-new. There are remaining original swing bridges elsewhere on the Trent Severn Waterway. It is hoped that Port Severn Bridge does not set a precedent, and instead rehabilitation and preservation is considered for surviving examples.
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