Not the Grand Funk Railroad...

Bridge in early 1900's looking toward Black Rock

… it was the Grand Trunk Railway.  They’re the ones who built the International Railway Bridge that spans the Niagara River in Black Rock.  Connecting Black Rock to Fort Erie, ON, the bridge extends over the I-190 and Squaw Island.  It rotates to provide clearance for larger ships in the Black Rock Canal.  It also provides passage over to Squaw Island with a pedestrian and vehicle lane.

The bridge has been around since 1873, but plans for it began in 1857.   And we all complain because the Peace Bridge expansion is taking so long!

The total length of this bridge is 3,651.5 feet in three distinct sections:

Canadian shoreline across Niagara River to Squaw Island - 1,967.5 feet
the width of Squaw Island - 1,167 feet
across the Black Rock Canal - 517 feet

Its large piers are strong enough to withstand a current of between 7 – 12 knots.  While the dog and I both swim for exercise in the river, we do not swim off of Squaw Island as the current is too strong to be safe.

Traffic on the bridge is not too heavy, anywhere from ten to fifteen trains per day.  The number of cars per train crossing can be long.  The traffic is not loud by any means and generally only audible if you listen for it.  There are more trains running at night it seems.  The crossings are not at street grade, so they don’t inhibit driving either.  Deaborn Street is actually interrupted by the train right of way approximately one block beyond the house.  At the base of the street there is a field that can easily be walked over and which connects to the lower portion of the Dearborn which runs for another block.  Fed Ex has an office and parking on the North side of the tracks.

We walk over to Squaw Island from the base of Dearborn, crossing Niagara at Bridge Street.  There is a parking lot for the Army Corps of Engineer.  It links with the bike path that can either be taken down to connect to the portion of the path heading West or you can bear right and head over the bridge.  Plenty of times we’ve crossed over when there has been a person manning the station that moves the bridge (it is a "swing" bridge and rotates rather than raises and lowers).  We get a friendly wave.  Once you get over to the Island, you need to get off the bridge.  There is always a Border Patrol officer monitoring the bridge and the park and it would likely be impossible to make it all of the way to Canada on foot using the bridge.

This bridge is a nice piece of history and it’s also very useful locally for those of us who want to enjoy the park.