The trio of bridges include a century-old through-truss, a trestle with outlook platforms, and a repurposed, relocated pony truss that was saved from demolition. The historic Black Bridge was converted to a pedestrian bridge in 2010 with Vallee’s Structural Engineering department at the helm of the project’s inspection, design, tender, and construction phases. The recommended scope of work for the repurposing of Black Bridge was undertaken by the Waterford Heritage Trail Association.

While construction was underway, Vallee was able to re-evaluate the condition of the rail ties and save a significant portion of the budget which was used to design and install the nice picket barriers on the bridge – a significant upgrade to the planned economical chain link fence.

With panoramic views of the Waterford Ponds and downtown Waterford, the Black Bridge serves as part of the Waterford Heritage and TransCanada Trails and connects to Simcoe, Port Dover, Delhi, Brantford, Cambridge and Hamilton trails.

These bridges have been featured in the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals newsletter as an example of how design and adaptive rehabilitation and reuse of heritage-valued bridges can be instrumental in helping drive the local tourist economy and downtown revitalization of small towns across Ontario.