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The Ontario government announced today it has awarded a contract for the detail design of the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) Garden City Skyway Bridge Twinning Project.

Skyway Bridging Partners will complete the design for the bridge, road, ramps and utility relocation. The team consists of:

• Applicant lead: Dragados Canada Inc., ������ion Demathieu and Bard Techno, Green Infrastructure Partners
• Design team: Arcadis Professional Services (Canada) Inc., GHD Ltd., Pedelta
• ������ion team: Dragados Canada Inc., ������ion Demathieu & Bard (CDB) Inc., Green Infrastructure Partners

A recent deal struck between Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) town councillors and the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) advanced the twinning of the Garden City Skyway.

The project entails the construction of a new, four-lane bridge. Once complete, the 2.2-kilometre bridge will carry Toronto-bound traffic over the Welland Canal. Following the new bridge construction, work will begin to rehabilitate the existing bridge.

In the deal between the MTO and NOTL, it stipulates the ministry will pay the entire cost of the design, construction and inspection of the work.

“The Garden City Skway bridge twinning is another milestone in the province’s plan to tackle gridlock on a major trade corridor and drive economic growth in the face of U.S. tariffs. Approximately 100,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day,” said Tanya Blazina, senior media relations with the MTO.

Once the new bridge is built and the existing bridge is rehabilitated, there will be expanded bridge capacity with four lanes in each direction, easing congestion along this corridor. Municipal roads will be realigned and reconstructed to accommodate the new highway right-of-way and bridge structure.

The project is being delivered in partnership with Infrastructure Ontario as a Progressive Design-Build (PDB). Key features of a PDB model include the opportunity for greater collaboration between the project owner, the successful bidder, project partners and communities.

The scope of work includes:

• ������ion of a 2.2-kilometre twin Garden City Skyway bridge connecting St. Catharines and Niagara-on-the-Lake.
• Widening the QEW on approaches to the new bridge.
• Realignment of local roads.
• ������ion of pier protection systems, retaining walls and stormwater management ponds.
• Relocation of affected utilities.

Upon completion of the bridge, traffic from the existing bridge will be temporarily switched onto the newly constructed bridge to allow for rehabilitation of the existing Garden City Skyway bridge (under a separate contract).

The Request for Proposals (RFP) for teams to submit bids for this project closed Dec. 20, 2024.

Following the process, teams were shortlisted and invited to respond to an RFP in March 2024. Among them were: Garden City Connectors, Peter Kiewit Sons ULC, Skyway Bridging Partners and SkyTwin Partners. 

Skyway Bridging Partners was the successful proponent.

 They will work collaboratively with IO and the MTO to finalize the project agreement and complete the detailed design. Once the development phase is completed, IO and MTO will have the option to enter into a project agreement for the construction of the new bridge with the successful team.