Names
The bridge is known both popularly and in official correspondence as the Traffic Bridge, originally distinguishing it from the QLLS/CN railway bridge just upstream and later becoming a proper noun in its own right (the railway bridge was built in 1890 and demolished in 1965 when the rail line and downtown yards were removed; the Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge now crosses the river at its former location). Although it is Saskatoon's oldest bridge, it was the last one to be formally named. On January 22, 2007, Saskatoon City Council voted to officially name it the "Traffic Bridge", on the recommendation of the Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee, as a way to acknowledge its historic character and the vital role it played in the city's early history.
The bridge has been referred to by various names since its construction. The most popular alternate name is Victoria Bridge, given that Victoria Avenue runs right up to the bridge's east end. It has been called the 19th Street Bridge, although 19th street actually passes a block north of the bridge and connects with the northwest end of Broadway Bridge (this name made more sense prior to the construction of Broadway Bridge, when the streetcar line came down 19th street before turning onto the bridge). Due to its colour, it has also been called the Black Bridge, although its most recent painting is a rather dark grey. It is also sometimes called the Iron Bridge and even the Short Hill Bridge after the Short Hill, down which Victoria Avenue comes.
Read more about this topic: Traffic Bridge (Saskatoon)
Famous quotes containing the word names:
“It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things. Names are everything. I never quarrel with actions. My one quarrel is with words.... The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Every man who has lived for fifty years has buried a whole world or even two; he has grown used to its disappearance and accustomed to the new scenery of another act: but suddenly the names and faces of a time long dead appear more and more often on his way, calling up series of shades and pictures kept somewhere, “just in case” in the endless catacombs of the memory, making him smile or sigh, and sometimes almost weep.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)