Here in Port Colborne we have three bridges across the Welland Canal, which bisects the city North to South as it runs between lakes Ontario and Erie. “The bridge is up” is a common cry, often accompanied by other word selections which I won’t enumerate here. At the Clarence Street bridge, the furthest South, there are conveniently placed bars on either side. “The bridge was up” is a common excuse to stop for a(nother) beer. Which is fair, if you are a pedestrian. I like to tell visitors standing at the roadside watching these ships go through from ground level, that it’s three kilometres from one side of the canal to the other. And it can be, when two of the bridges are up at the same time. Traffic is fun when that happens.
In this image the CSL Tadoussac is heading South into lake Erie, and is passing under the Main Street bridge, first of the three they will encounter when travelling that direction. The bridge is up. This photo was taken from a Cessna during an early morning flight on a holiday weekend, so there is no traffic.
Main Street in Port Colborne is actually Hwy 3, the original primary arterial route across lower Ontario. It begins at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor and winds through many places, including Port Colborne, on its way to the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie. Hwy 3 connects Canada to the U.S. at both ends. As you would rightly expect there is usually a considerable amount of traffic at any given time, including anything coming along the coast road heading for the border. Traffic can back up quite a way during peak hours. Not so, way up here. Which is always good. But hey.
The bridge is up. Beer me.
