Jacques Cartier Bridge

Infobox_Bridge
bridge_name= Jacques Cartier Bridge


caption=
official_name=
also_known_as=
carries= 5 lanes of Route 134
crosses= St. Lawrence River
locale= Longueuil, Quebec and Montreal, Quebec, Canada
maint= The Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated
id=
design= Cantilever bridge
mainspan = 334.35 m
length = 2 687.42 m
width=
clearance=
below=
traffic= 96,900http://www.federalbridge.ca/Portals/0/annual_reports/fbcl_report_2006-07_eng.pdf]
open= May 14, 1930
closed=
toll=
map_cue=
map_

map_text=
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coordinates= coord|45|31|15|N|73|32|06|W|type:landmark_region:CA|display=inline,title
lat=
long=

The Jacques Cartier Bridge ( _fr. pont Jacques-Cartier) 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 1934cite web |url=http://www.pjcci.ca/English/pdf/JCARTIERINTERNET.pdf.pdf |title=The Jacques Cartier Bridge |accessdate=2008-08-25 |publisher=The Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated |format=pdf] 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 1874cite web |url=http://www.montrealroads.com/crossings/jacques-cartier/ |title=Jacques Cartier Bridge (QC 134) |accessdate=2008-08-25 ] 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 Bridgefact|date=August 2008, 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 convert|8|ft|m|sing=on, 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 [cite web |url=http://www.ledevoir.com/2007/09/10/156270.html |title=La barrière anti-suicide a prouvé son utilité |accessdate=2008-08-25 |publisher=Le Devoir |date=2007-09-10 |language=French ] .

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+fact|date=August 2008. 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

Jacques-Cariter_Bridge_from_the_Concorde Bridge

References

External links

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Crossings navbox
structure = Bridges/Tunnels
place = St. Lawrence River
bridge = Jacques Cartier Bridge
bridge signs =
upstream = Montreal Metro Tunnel
upstream signs =
downstream = Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine Bridge-Tunnel
downstream signs =