The Pretoria Bridge is a lift bridge

Lift bridge

A vertical-lift bridge or lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck....

 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

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It crosses 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...

 linking the Glebe

The Glebe

The Glebe is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located just south of Ottawa's downtown area, with its northern border being demarcated by the Queensway highway. It is bounded by the Rideau Canal to the south and east. Many maps show the western edge as Bronson Avenue, but some also...

 and Centretown

Centretown

Centretown is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada defined by the city as "the area bounded on the north by Gloucester Street and Lisgar Street, on the east by the Rideau Canal, on the south by the Queensway Freeway and on the west by Bronson Avenue." Traditionally it was all of Ottawa west of the...

 to Old Ottawa East

Old Ottawa East

Old Ottawa East or just Ottawa East is a neighbourhood of Ottawa, Canada. It is located south of Nicholas Street and between the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River. The southern border is generally defined by Main Street and Riverdale Avenue. To the south is the neighbourhood of Old Ottawa South...

. 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

Second Boer War

The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...

 and those Canadians that had served. The name comes from the captured Boer capital, Pretoria

Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...

. 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

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...

. 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.