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Champlain Bridge (Montreal)
Encyclopedia
The Champlain Bridge is a steel
truss
cantilever
bridge
with approach viaduct
s constructed of prestressed concrete beams supporting a prestressed concrete deck paved with asphalt. The bridge crosses the Saint Lawrence River
and Saint Lawrence Seaway
, connecting the Montreal
boroughs of Verdun and Le Sud-Ouest
to Brossard
on the South Shore
,
The bridge, with approaches, is approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) in length. When the project began, it was designated as the "Nuns' Island Bridge" because it crosses over Nuns' Island
. In 1958, it was officially named the Champlain Bridge in honour of the explorer Samuel de Champlain
who founded Quebec City
in 1608.
Together with the Jacques Cartier Bridge
, it is administered by the Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI), a federal agency which is a fully owned subsidiary of the Federal Bridge Corporation Limited
.
With nearly 160,000 daily crossings, the Champlain Bridge is the busiest bridge in Canada (the Hogg's Hollow bridge system
in Toronto is the busiest multi-structure bridge in North America, with four separate bridges averaging a combined 400,000 + vehicles a day through Highway 401).
On August 17, 1955, federal Transport Minister George Marler first announced the planned construction of a new bridge connecting Montreal to the South Shore via Nun's Island. The city's existing bridges (Victoria
, Jacques Cartier
and Honoré Mercier
) had become inadequate to support the amount of traffic that carried residents from the growing South Shore suburbs into Montréal.
The National Harbours Board
was placed in charge of the project. Through several lengthy meetings and consultations in the fall of 1955, the location for the bridge and its approaches were selected. Originally, the plan had been to build the bridge with only 4 lanes, with room for further expansion to 6 lanes. During the design phase however it was decided to go with an initial 6-lane design immediately.
The bridge was opened on June 29, 1962. At the time, the bridge had only one approach from Montreal, via Wellington Street
. The section of the bridge that includes the approaches to and from Atwater Street
and La Vérendrye Boulevard were opened two years later, on December 7, 1964.
In 1967, the final approach to the bridge on the Montréal side was completed when the Bonaventure Expressway
was opened to traffic.
A 25-cent toll (8-cents if paid with tokens) was charged to finance the C$35 million cost of the Champlain Bridge. The toll was collected until 1990, when the Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI), which took over jurisdiction of the bridge a dozen years earlier, removed the toll plaza. Currently, a new toll project exists which may result in booths returning to the predetermined spaces on Ile-des-Soeurs, so that drivers can be charged for entering and exiting Montréal. The toll will not be higher than $2.00 for a start.
daily, Le journal de Montréal
, published a story about federal government plans to build a new 10-lane span next to Champlain Bridge, rather than face the increasing maintenance cost of the aging structure. Federal minister Lawrence Cannon
confirmed that his ministry is seriously considering the prospect of a new bridge.
In October 2007, Novaroute, a private firm, revealed a plan to construct a two-story tunnel bridge under the Saint Lawrence River that would also collect tolls based on the time period. In Novaroute's plan, one level would be for buses and trains while the second would be for all other vehicles except tractor-trailers. The tunnel would be built under a public-private partnership
and take five years to complete.
In August 2008, the Transport Canada
, the federal ministry of transportation, confirmed that studies and scenarios were ordered to build a new bridge within 10 or 15 years. The new structure would likely be 8 to 10 lanes wide and include a light rail train to connect the South Shore to Montreal
.
On January 27, 2009, the Government of Canada announced in its 2009 Economic Action Plan that it would be allocating $212 million to renew the bridge.
On March 18, 2011, the Government of Canada announced $158 million will be spent on a major repair and maintenance program as concerns mount it is at risk of collapse. Montreal's La Presse newspaper cited two leaked engineering reports prepared for a federal bridge agency that suggest sections of the structure are in a severe state of deterioration that will be progress exponentially. The report concludes that a partial or complete collapse of the span should not be ruled out.
On October 5, 2011, The Honourable Denis Lebel announced that the Canadian Federal Government will proceed with a new bridge across the St. Lawrence in Montreal.
used in girders, pylons, and other parts.
In 2010, JCCBI — the Federal agency that oversees the structure — retained international engineering firm Delcan to carry out an expert study of the bridge's structural health. The firm returned a carefully-worded report entitled, "The Future of the Champlain Bridge Crossing". In the Executive Summary, the bridge was said to be "functionally deficient" for both current and long-term traffic demands, and showing "significant deterioration". One finding suggested that the Champlain Bridge is in "very much poorer condition than would be typical" for comparable bridges. Delcan concluded that the bridge had "many deficiencies" and, even in light of the methodical inspection and rehabilitation of the structure undertaken by its owners, that continued operation "entails some risks that cannot altogether be quantified".
The CBC Television
and Télévision de Radio-Canada
, among other news agencies, have published segments highlighting concerns over conditions of surface roads in Montreal
and the Champlain Bridge in particular.
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
cantilever
Cantilever
A cantilever is a beam anchored at only one end. The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and shear stress. Cantilever construction allows for overhanging structures without external bracing. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs.This is in...
bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
with approach viaduct
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
s constructed of prestressed concrete beams supporting a prestressed concrete deck paved with asphalt. The bridge crosses the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
and Saint Lawrence Seaway
Saint Lawrence Seaway
The Saint Lawrence Seaway , , is the common name for a system of locks, canals and channels that permits ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the North American Great Lakes, as far as Lake Superior. Legally it extends from Montreal to Lake Erie, including the Welland Canal...
, connecting the Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
boroughs of Verdun and Le Sud-Ouest
Le Sud-Ouest
Le Sud-Ouest is a borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:Le Sud-Ouest is an amalgam of several neighbourhoods with highly distinct histories and identities, mainly with working-class and industrial origins, grouped around the Lachine Canal...
to Brossard
Brossard
Brossard is a suburban area, located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River, opposite the island and city of Montreal.Brossard is subdivided into many smaller sections. These sections are characterized by having street names that all begin with the same letter of the alphabet...
on the South Shore
South Shore (Montreal)
The South Shore is the general term for the suburbs of Montreal, Quebec located on the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence River opposite the Island of Montreal. The South Shore is located within the Quebec administrative region of Montérégie....
,
The bridge, with approaches, is approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) in length. When the project began, it was designated as the "Nuns' Island Bridge" because it crosses over Nuns' Island
Nuns' Island
Nuns' Island is an island that forms a part of the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is part of the borough of Verdun.-Geography:The 3.74 km² island is part of the Hochelaga Archipelago in the St. Lawrence River...
. In 1958, it was officially named the Champlain Bridge in honour of the explorer Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
who founded Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
in 1608.
Together with the Jacques Cartier Bridge
Jacques Cartier Bridge
The Jacques Cartier Bridge is a steel truss cantilever bridge crossing the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal Island, Montreal, Quebec to the south shore at Longueuil, Quebec, Canada...
, it is administered by the Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI), a federal agency which is a fully owned subsidiary of the Federal Bridge Corporation Limited
Federal Bridge Corporation Limited
Federal Bridge Corporation Limited is a Canadian federal Crown corporation which is responsible for operating and managing the following bridges which until 1998 were managed by the St...
.
With nearly 160,000 daily crossings, the Champlain Bridge is the busiest bridge in Canada (the Hogg's Hollow bridge system
Hogg's Hollow Bridge
Hogg's Hollow Bridge, originally known as the Yonge Boulevard Viaduct, is a set of four separate highway bridges that span the Don River Valley in Toronto, Ontario and carries 14 lanes of Highway 401...
in Toronto is the busiest multi-structure bridge in North America, with four separate bridges averaging a combined 400,000 + vehicles a day through Highway 401).
Construction history
Victoria Bridge (Montreal)
Victoria Bridge , formerly originally known as Victoria Jubilee Bridge, is a bridge over the St. Lawrence River, linking Montreal, Quebec, to the south shore city of Saint-Lambert....
, Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier Bridge
The Jacques Cartier Bridge is a steel truss cantilever bridge crossing the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal Island, Montreal, Quebec to the south shore at Longueuil, Quebec, Canada...
and Honoré Mercier
Honoré Mercier Bridge
The Honoré Mercier Bridge in Quebec, Canada, connects the Montreal borough of LaSalle on the Island of Montreal with the Mohawk reserve of Kahnawake and the suburb of Châteauguay on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. It is the most direct southerly route from the island of Montreal toward...
) had become inadequate to support the amount of traffic that carried residents from the growing South Shore suburbs into Montréal.
The National Harbours Board
National Harbours Board
The National Harbours Board was the administrative body that controlled the business and service operations in major Canadian ports in the years 1936 to 1983 and was also responsible for coordination and determination of policy, and planning and engineering of capital works. It reported on its...
was placed in charge of the project. Through several lengthy meetings and consultations in the fall of 1955, the location for the bridge and its approaches were selected. Originally, the plan had been to build the bridge with only 4 lanes, with room for further expansion to 6 lanes. During the design phase however it was decided to go with an initial 6-lane design immediately.
The bridge was opened on June 29, 1962. At the time, the bridge had only one approach from Montreal, via Wellington Street
Wellington Street, Montreal
Wellington Street is an east-west thoroughfare located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It starts at LaSalle Boulevard in the borough of Verdun, passes through Pointe-Saint-Charles and Griffintown in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest, and terminates at McGill Street in Old Montreal in the borough of...
. The section of the bridge that includes the approaches to and from Atwater Street
Atwater Street
Atwater Avenue is a major north-south street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is links Doctor Penfield Avenue in the Ville-Marie borough to the north, and Henri Duhamel Street in the Verdun borough to the south...
and La Vérendrye Boulevard were opened two years later, on December 7, 1964.
In 1967, the final approach to the bridge on the Montréal side was completed when the Bonaventure Expressway
Quebec Autoroute 10
Autoroute 10 is an Autoroute in southern Quebec, Canada...
was opened to traffic.
A 25-cent toll (8-cents if paid with tokens) was charged to finance the C$35 million cost of the Champlain Bridge. The toll was collected until 1990, when the Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI), which took over jurisdiction of the bridge a dozen years earlier, removed the toll plaza. Currently, a new toll project exists which may result in booths returning to the predetermined spaces on Ile-des-Soeurs, so that drivers can be charged for entering and exiting Montréal. The toll will not be higher than $2.00 for a start.
Plans for bridge replacement
On September 20, 2007, a major French-language MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
daily, Le journal de Montréal
Le Journal de Montréal
Le Journal de Montréal is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and is the largest-circulation French-language newspaper in North America. Established by Pierre Péladeau in 1964, it is owned by the Sun Media division of Quebecor Media. It is also Canada's largest tabloid...
, published a story about federal government plans to build a new 10-lane span next to Champlain Bridge, rather than face the increasing maintenance cost of the aging structure. Federal minister Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon
Lawrence Cannon, PC is a Canadian politician from Quebec and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former Quebec lieutenant. On October 30, 2008 he was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs...
confirmed that his ministry is seriously considering the prospect of a new bridge.
In October 2007, Novaroute, a private firm, revealed a plan to construct a two-story tunnel bridge under the Saint Lawrence River that would also collect tolls based on the time period. In Novaroute's plan, one level would be for buses and trains while the second would be for all other vehicles except tractor-trailers. The tunnel would be built under a public-private partnership
Public-private partnership
Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...
and take five years to complete.
In August 2008, the Transport Canada
Transport Canada
Transport Canada is the department within the government of Canada which is responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities portfolio...
, the federal ministry of transportation, confirmed that studies and scenarios were ordered to build a new bridge within 10 or 15 years. The new structure would likely be 8 to 10 lanes wide and include a light rail train to connect the South Shore to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
On January 27, 2009, the Government of Canada announced in its 2009 Economic Action Plan that it would be allocating $212 million to renew the bridge.
On March 18, 2011, the Government of Canada announced $158 million will be spent on a major repair and maintenance program as concerns mount it is at risk of collapse. Montreal's La Presse newspaper cited two leaked engineering reports prepared for a federal bridge agency that suggest sections of the structure are in a severe state of deterioration that will be progress exponentially. The report concludes that a partial or complete collapse of the span should not be ruled out.
On October 5, 2011, The Honourable Denis Lebel announced that the Canadian Federal Government will proceed with a new bridge across the St. Lawrence in Montreal.
Structural health
Montreal's climate subjects the Champlain Bridge to wintry cold, snowfall, and windy conditions, all of which accelerate damage to the bridge. Because of the potential danger from ice accumulation, the bridge has been salted every season for decades. But salt attacks both the concrete and steel rebarRebar
A rebar , also known as reinforcing steel, reinforcement steel, rerod, or a deformed bar, is a common steel bar, and is commonly used as a tensioning device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures holding the concrete in compression...
used in girders, pylons, and other parts.
In 2010, JCCBI — the Federal agency that oversees the structure — retained international engineering firm Delcan to carry out an expert study of the bridge's structural health. The firm returned a carefully-worded report entitled, "The Future of the Champlain Bridge Crossing". In the Executive Summary, the bridge was said to be "functionally deficient" for both current and long-term traffic demands, and showing "significant deterioration". One finding suggested that the Champlain Bridge is in "very much poorer condition than would be typical" for comparable bridges. Delcan concluded that the bridge had "many deficiencies" and, even in light of the methodical inspection and rehabilitation of the structure undertaken by its owners, that continued operation "entails some risks that cannot altogether be quantified".
The CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
and Télévision de Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada is a Canadian French language television network. It is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, known in French as Société Radio-Canada. Headquarters are at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal, which is also home to the network's flagship station, CBFT-DT...
, among other news agencies, have published segments highlighting concerns over conditions of surface roads in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and the Champlain Bridge in particular.
See also
- List of longest bridges in the world
- List of bridges
- List of crossings of the Saint Lawrence River
- List of bridges in Montreal
- Federal Bridge Corporation LimitedFederal Bridge Corporation LimitedFederal Bridge Corporation Limited is a Canadian federal Crown corporation which is responsible for operating and managing the following bridges which until 1998 were managed by the St...