St. Catharines had, for a number of years, been talking about the benefits of building a high level bridge over the 12 Mile Creek that would connect the downtown with the city’s west end. There were four routes being considered: the St. Paul Street extension, Trafalgar Street, the King Street extension and Salina Street. The King Street route was thought to be ideal because it was central for people on both sides of the creek. But it was also very costly. The St. Paul Street extension had the support of the St. Paul Street business owners.

What was finally decided upon was a modified St. Paul Street route devised by city engineer, Mr. Near, and consulting engineer, Mr. Sprague. As reported by the Standard on February 10, 1914, “A practically new route is developed, the principal points in favour of which are that it maintains the present existing relations on both sides of the canal and tends to no dislocation of values and business... It possesses the feature of being a real extension of St. Paul Street, as the old idea of going through the Fowler block did not and on the western side it makes directly for St. Paul Street, again near the top of the grade."

Work began on the new bridge in January of 1915 by the Canadian Bridge Company of Walkerville, Ontario.