Champlain Bridge (Montreal, 2019–present)
The Samuel De Champlain Bridge, colloquially known as the Champlain Bridge, is a cable-stayed bridge design by architect Poul Ove Jensen and built to replace the original Champlain Bridge over the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, between Nuns' Island in the borough of Verdun in Montreal and the suburban city of Brossard on the South Shore. A second, connected bridge links Nuns' Island to the main Island of Montreal. The bridge is the busiest bridge in the country with more cars flowing into it than any other bridge.
Samuel De Champlain Bridge | |
|---|---|
Samuel De Champlain Bridge as viewed from Brossard in July 2019 | |
| Coordinates | 45°28′10″N 73°30′58″W |
| Carries | 8 lanes (4 northwestbound, 4 southeastbound) of A-10 / A-15 / A-20
2 tracks used by the REM |
| Crosses | St. Lawrence River and Saint Lawrence Seaway |
| Locale | Brossard and Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Owner | The Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Inc. |
| Maintained by | The Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Inc. |
| Website | www |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Cable-stayed bridge |
| Material | Steel, Concrete |
| Total length | 3,400 m (11,155 ft) |
| Width | 60 m (196.85 ft) |
| Height | 170 m (557.74 ft) |
| Longest span | 240 m (787.40 ft) |
| Clearance below | 38.5 metres (126 ft) |
| Design life | 125 years |
| History | |
| Architect | Poul Ove Jensen |
| Designer | T.Y. Lin International |
| Constructed by | SNC-Lavalin, ACS Group, Dragados Canada |
| Construction start | 2015 |
| Construction end | 2019 |
| Construction cost | $4.2 billion |
| Opened | June 24, 2019 (northbound/westbound span) July 1, 2019 (southbound/eastbound span) |
| Inaugurated | June 28, 2019 |
| Replaces | Champlain Bridge, Montreal (1962–2019) |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 159,000 |
| Location | |
The new span is located just north of the location of the original Champlain Bridge, which began demolition as soon as the new bridge was completed. The new bridge carries eight lanes of automobile traffic of the A-10, A-15, and A-20, with one lane in each direction dedicated for buses. It also includes a multi-use lane for cyclists and pedestrians. The central portion of the bridge deck carries the South Shore branch of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) automated light metro system. At 60 metres (200 ft) wide, the new Champlain Bridge is the widest cable-stayed bridge in the world that uses two planes of cables.
It is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever built in North America and with an estimated 59 million vehicles a year, one of the busiest crossings on the continent. It is built to last 125 years with the usage of stainless steel and high-performance concrete, and replaces the previous 57-year-old bridge, which had become functionally obsolete and its structure having been degraded by the repeated application of de-icing salt.