
Just weeks after the provincial government began tunnelling the Ontario Line, the project has hit another milestone with the completion of the Lower Don Bridge’s stunning arch. The 120-metre-long steel structure will eventually carry close to 400,000 daily riders over the Don River and the DVP, connecting the east end and beyond to downtown and Exhibition Place.
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The bridge arrives as housing development ramps up in the adjacent areas. In Corktown, a wave of new residential towers is transforming the former industrial zone into a coveted residential neighbourhood. Just east of the Don, the East Harbour Transit Hub is set to anchor a new mixed-use district of more than 4,000 homes from Cadillac Fairview, which will generate some 50,000 new jobs.
The new east-west train is projected to slash travel times while connecting with dozens of routes and lines for both the TTC and GO Transit. The Ontario Line will also ease traffic on the DVP and the Gardiner—perhaps Toronto’s most hated congestion corridor.

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New and proposed projects circling the arch bridge include a crystalline office tower overlooking Joel Weeks Park, a Danish-designed complex with 340 new homes at Broadview and Eastern, and a sleek red-brick tower fronting Parliament in the Distillery District.
Zakiya Kassam is a writer and fact checker whose work has appeared in Post City Magazines, This Magazine and Now Toronto. She was previously the associate editor at Storeys.