The Heron Road Bridge is a bridge in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

 Canada. It connects Baseline Road

Baseline Road (Ottawa)

Baseline Road is a road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.Baseline runs from Richmond Road east in a straight line until it ends at the Heron Road Bridge over the Rideau River and Rideau Canal when it becomes Heron Road. Before the 2001 City of Ottawa amalgamation, Baseline formed the border of the city...

 and Heron Road

Heron Road (Ottawa)

Heron Road is a major road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from Walkley Road at an angle to the Rideau River, where it turns into Baseline Road. Heron is home to the Public Works and Government Services Canada headquarters, as well as the Canada Post headquarters and the Edward Drake Building...

 passing over both the Rideau River

Rideau River

thumb|Rapids on the Rideau River opposite [[Carleton University]].The Rideau River is a Southern Ontario river which flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is 146 km...

 and the Rideau Canal

Rideau Canal

The Rideau Canal , also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its...

 just south of Carleton University

Carleton University

Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...

. The bridge was built in 1966, and its construction saw one of the worst accidents in Ottawa history. On August 10, 1966 the partially completed south span of the bridge collapsed, killing nine workers and injuring another fifty-five. The $100,000 inquest put the blame on the use of green lumber and the lack of diagonal bracing on the wooden support forms, causing a collapse as concrete was being placed to form the bridge deck. As a result of the findings, the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario suspended two of its members, reprimanded a third, and the construction company, O.J. Gaffney Limited of Stratford, Ontario, was fined $5,000; the maximum penalty under the existing Construction Safety Act. And after very little delay, the province of Ontario’s construction safety standards were completely rewritten.
http://bibliottawalibrary.ca/connect/research/local/heron_e.html Just to the west of the bridge, there is a plaque honouring the nine workers killed.

See also

• List of bridge failures