During an aerial inspection of northern Ontario for flood damage, an alert transportation official noticed that a timber Howe truss bridge constructed in the 1930s had warped considerably. Engineers soon discovered that the laminated layers of wood used to construct the crossing were hiding significant deterioration. A design to replace the structure uses wood-clad steel to honor the heritage of the original bridge. The Sioux Narrows Bridge, in northern Ontario, was a 64 m long timber truss structure constructed in the 1930s. It spanned a narrow in the Lake of the Woods in the picturesque community of Sioux Narrows and was owned by the province's Ministry of Transportation. When built, it was heralded as one of the longest single-span timber bridges in the world. Given the structure's age and uniqueness, the province added the structure to the Ontario Heritage Bridge List in 1983. In 2002, however, the bridge was discovered to be in a state of progressive collapse, and a decision was ultimately made to replace it.
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