The Pretoria Bridge is a lift bridge in
Ottawa, Canada. It crosses the Rideau Canal linking the
Glebe and Centretown to Old Ottawa East. The bridge was
built in 1915, replacing an earlier wooden swing bridge on
Argyle Street just to the north. It is a lift bridge meaning
that the central portion of the bridge can be elevated to
allow boats to pass underneath.
In the late 1970s it was discovered that road salt
had seriously damaged the bridge. Proposals were advanced to
build a larger and higher bridge, but these were opposed by
those who saw the bridge as a heritage structure. Eventually
it was decided to rebuild the bridge almost exactly as it
had been before.
The bridge shares its name with Pretoria Avenue, of
which it is a continuation. Pretoria Avenue, formerly Jane
Street, was renamed in 1902 to commemorate the British
victory in the Second Boer War and those Canadians that had
served. The name comes from the captured Boer capital,
Pretoria. The name later become controversial as most
Canadians associated it with the apartheid regime in South
Africa. In the late 1980s a movement was launched to rename
the bridge after Nelson Mandela. This was opposed by others
who felt it was an important monument to Canadians who had
fought in South Africa. City council refused to get involved
and the proposal eventually died.