[URBAN NOTE] On two unfortunate deaths at the site of St. Thomas' High Line-style park

[rfmcdonald]

The National Post carried Jennifer Bieman's article, "Two plunge to their deaths at site proposed for Canada’s first High-Line style elevated", noting the deaths of two trespassers at a site in the southwest Ontario town at a site intended for an elevated park

The deaths have cast a shadow over plans to redevelop the site into Canada’s first elevated park. Originally built as a single-track wooden structure in 1872, the bridge was expanded into a twin-track archway in 1929 and has been recognized as a national historic engineering site. The landmark bridge towers over Sunset Drive, at Fingal Line.

While plans for the elevated park are being drafted, On Track St. Thomas, the bridge owner, keeps access to the 1,300-metre span sealed off with three-metre fences and barbed wire at either end of the trestle.

“We’ve done the best we can to keep people off the bridge. So it’s really tragic that people have found a way to get on there,” said Serge Lavoie, president of On Track St. Thomas.

Lavoie said he visits the trestle barriers at least once a week to check their condition.

In the five years since the fences have gone up, he said, there’s been vandalism and evidence of attempts to get on the bridge. Any damage is fixed promptly, added Lavoie, although he plans to have a fencing company check the bridge gate in the wake of Monday’s falls.