The year 2024 marks the 45th anniversary of the publication of the First Edition of the Ontario Highway Bridge Design Code (OHBDC). The CSCE National History Committee is holding a special commemorative session at the 2024 CSCE Annual Conference that will highlight the individuals and initiatives that played a pivotal role in the development of a new generation of bridge codes in Ontario and, subsequently, in Canada. The OHBDC was created in a remarkably short, 3-year, period by a select team of Ontario Ministry of Transportation engineers, led by Paul F. Csagoly and Roger A. Dorton, and paid consultants. The design innovations introduced in the OHBDC included: new truck and lane load models; new provisions for determining the dynamic component of traffic loads; new requirements for the design of concrete deck slabs that markedly reduced the quantity of steel reinforcement required; new provisions for bridge analysis that included soil-structure analysis; new provisions for the design of wood bridges; and new provisions for assessing existing bridges. The OHBDC was the first bridge code in North America to adopt a limit states design format. This paper will focus on the need for the creation of the OHBDC and the management of its development.