Pickering pedestrian bridge wins international award. Take our quiz to find reasons why it gets so much love

/ metrolinx

As one of Ontario’s most recognizable pedestrian bridges wins an international award, we span your knowledge with a quiz – including if you’re among the thousands to cross it every day.

It’s crossed over into wider acclaim.

The Pickering pedestrian bridge, a pathway that has become iconic in Ontario, has won another nod of approval. Earlier this month (October 2019), the New York City Engineering News Record (ENR) presented Metrolinx with an ENR 2019 Global Best Projects Award of Merit for the construction project.

The Pickering pedestrian bridge is shown lit up in blue at night, as it stands over busy Hwy. 401.

The Pickering pedestrian crossing continues to draw attention – as well as award nominations for design.

The award honours construction and design excellence, along with the project teams who have designed and built these extraordinary projects around the world in the past year.

(Scroll down below to take our short ‘bridge quiz’.)

Metrolinx representative, Peter Zuk, was in New York to accept the crystal “Globie” award.

“Metrolinx is honoured to receive the ENR award for the Pickering pedestrian bridge – especially knowing that there were a record number of submissions this year, and the quality of winning projects is outstanding,” he said.

The bridge lights up pink in this photo.

The judges – an independent jury of industry professionals with extensive international experience – were tasked with selecting winners from the largest and most diverse field of winners in the seven-year history of the awards.

The 32 projects in contention represented 20 different countries around the globe and exemplified the risks, rewards, and hurdles overcome when designing and building internationally.

“Congratulations to the whole team for championing this project to its successful completion and giving Metrolinx the opportunity to be selected as an award winner of this prestigious competition,” said Bruce Sevier, Metrolinx’s senior manager, Non-AFP Early Works.

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Earlier this year the bridge won an Urban Design Award from the City of Pickering. So with so much love shown to one span, we thought we’d take a moment to test your knowledge of it.

Here are four simple questions to take you to the other side.

The Pickering pedestrian bridge crosses how many lanes of busy traffic?
14
Correct.
8
Nope.
None. It’s built over a river and two rural roads
Nice try.
21
Close, but no.
How long is the Pickering pedestrian bridge?
250 metres
Correct.
50 metres
Negative.
100 metres
Nope
200 metres
Close, but sadly no.
What is the protective ‘skin’ of the bridge made from?
An aluminum product 
Yup.
Recycled wood from an old Pickering fire station 
Nope.
Weathered copper
Wrong.
A canvas material
No.
Why is the inside of the tunnel always so bright? 
The material lets light in, while it’s illuminated at night. 
That’s right.
It turns to face the sun 
Negative.
It isn’t. Motion sensing lights come on at both ends.
Wrong.
Mirrors are used to bounce light collected during the day. 
Nope.
 How many railroad tracks does it cross? 
6 
Well done.
2 
Incorrect.
4
Wrong.
None, the tracks are located away from the bridge 
Nope.
 Unless you just skipped right to this quiz, what’s the name of the award the bridge and project team just won? 
An ENR 2019 Global Best Projects Award of Merit 
Well done.
A North America Bridge Engineering Citation 
Incorrect.
An Oscar
Wrong.
A New York Span Builders Medal of Honour
Nope.

And by the way, a complete list of the award winners can be viewed here.

Story by: Stacey Kenny, Metrolinx communications senior advisor.