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Jacques Cartier Bridge
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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. The bridge crosses Île Sainte-Hélène in the centre of the river, where offramps allow access to the Parc Jean-Drapeau and La Ronde amusement park.
Originally named the Montreal Harbour Bridge (pont du Havre), it was renamed in 1934 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Jacques Cartier's first voyage up the St.
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Encyclopedia
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. The bridge crosses Île Sainte-Hélène in the centre of the river, where offramps allow access to the Parc Jean-Drapeau and La Ronde amusement park.
Originally named the Montreal Harbour Bridge (pont du Havre), it was renamed in 1934 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Jacques Cartier's first voyage up the St. Lawrence River.
The five-lane highway bridge is 3,400 m (11,236 ft) in length, including the approach viaducts. There are approximately 35.4 million vehicle crossings annually, making it the second busiest bridge in Canada, the first being Champlain Bridge, just a few kilometres upstream.
Together with Champlain 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.
Construction
Discussions began as early as 1874 about the construction of a new bridge to alleviate the congestion on Victoria Bridge, which was then a rail-only bridge, the wintertime ice bridge and the ferries used to connect the city to its south shore. The decision to build the bridge was made official in 1924.
The bridge follows the general design concept of the Quebec Bridge. It was, in turn, one of the design influences for the Story Bridge, in Brisbane, Australia, which was completed in 1940. Construction was undertaken by the Dominion Bridge Company starting in 1925 and completed in 1930. It was opened to traffic on May 14th.
The bridge was originally designed as a road, tramway, and pedestrian bridge, but tramway tracks were never installed. A parallel empty space used to be to the right of the roadway in each direction, through which the bridge's girders could be seen. The two sidewalks were outside the bridge proper. The spaces for the tramway tracks were converted to roadways in 1956 and 1959, adding an extra lane of traffic in each direction.
During the construction seasons of 1957 and 1958, the span over the east channel of the river (the Warren truss) was raised an additional 80 feet (to 120 feet). Traffic flow over the bridge was uninterrupted by this construction, through the installation of two Bailey bridges.
There used to be a toll plaza on the south shore as the Jacques Cartier Bridge and the Victoria Bridge, upstream, were both toll bridges until 1962. Tokens were issued.
During 2001 and 2002 the entire deck of the bridge was replaced. The sidewalks were also widened to a width of , and the sidewalk on the western side of the bridge was made a bike path, and part of the the Route verte (Green path) bike path network.
In 2004, a suicide prevention barrier was installed. Until then the bridge saw an average of 10 suicides a year.
There are four 3-metre high Eiffel Tower replicas at the four high-points of the bridge.
Events
During the summer season, the bridge is regularly completely closed to vehicular traffic for the fireworks competition held at La Ronde. It becomes foot traffic only, sometimes drawing crowds of 50,000+. The competition generally runs for about six weeks, from late June to the end of July. Events are held on Wednesday and Saturday nights, commencing just before 10:00 PM. Bridge traffic is closed as of 8:00 PM, and is re-opened when the bridge is cleared of pedestrians (usually between 11:00-11:30 PM).
The Jacques-Cartier Bridge is also closed to vehicular traffic for the Oasis Montreal Marathon which takes start on the bridge every year in early September.
Disruptions
Recently, this bridge has been shut down several times due to several protesters who have individually climbed on the superstructure of the bridge or on a sign in the Longueuil side of the bridge. Two of them were from the Fathers for Justice militant group, while a third claimed he was part of the group. Recently, a man wearing a Canadian flag climbed the structure of the bridge. Most of the protests led to massive traffic congestions during rush hour.
Gallery
Image:Jcbridge.jpg|Jacques-Cariter Bridge from the Concorde Bridge
Image:JacquesCartierBridge View.JPG|View from the bridge, before the suicide prevention barriers were installed
Image:K0080 006320 0036 DSCN0720.jpg|Entering onto the Jacques Cartier Bridge going towards Longueuil
Image:Jacques Cartier bridge in Montreal.jpg|Driving on the Jacques-Cartier bridge
Image:Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal, Québec .jpg|Jacques Cartier Bridge at dusk
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