Like most major cities, Montreal needs easy highway access from its suburbs and surrounding areas. However, because Montreal was built on an island surrounded by three rivers, it can be entered by land only on a bridge or through a tunnel. Although the city was founded in 1642, [1] it was not until 1847 that the first fixed link to the outside was established when a wooden bridge was built across Rivière des Prairies to Île Jésus, on the site of what is now Ahuntsic Bridge. Another bridge was built immediately afterward, a few kilometers west, which became Lachapelle Bridge, and another in 1849, Pont des Saints-Anges, to the east. [2] The latter bridge collapsed in the 1880s and was never rebuilt. [2]
With the advent of the railroad, Montreal got a fixed link to the mainland; in 1854 railroad bridges were built in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, across both channels of the Ottawa River, linking Montreal Island to Ontario and the Vaudreuil-Soulanges peninsula through Perrot Island. [3] In 1860, Montreal got its first link to the South Shore with the construction of Victoria Bridge, which was, at the time of its opening, the longest bridge in the world. [4] Indirect links to the North Shore also had to wait for railroad construction, but this took longer; the Canadian Pacific Railway opened its link to Saint-Jérôme in 1876, through Île Jésus. [2]
This list of bridges and other fixed links serving the Island of Montreal proceeds counter-clockwise around the island from southwest, at the exit of Lake Saint-Louis, downstream along the St. Lawrence River, then upstream along Rivière des Prairies all the way to Lake of Two Mountains, then downstream again along the East Channel of the Ottawa River until it reaches Lake Saint-Louis. The year of construction is that of the structure currently in place, accompanied by the year of construction of the original structure if the current one replaced an older span.
Key: Communities linked by individual bridges |
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(M): Montreal-side municipality and borough (I): Island(s) crossed, if any (O): Opposite-side municipality and borough |
The crossing of the Saint Lawrence River has always proved problematic for engineers due to width, depth, currents, and ice cover. The construction of Victoria Bridge for the Grand Trunk Railway, which, at 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), was the longest bridge in the world when it first opened in 1860, [4] highlighted the problems presented by this natural obstacle. [5] Not to be outdone by its rival, however, the Canadian Pacific Railway built its own span, the Saint-Laurent Railway Bridge, upstream from the Lachine Rapids in 1886 [6] for which the Mohawks of Kahnawake were hired to erect the steel superstructure. [7] Although Victoria Bridge was also used as a road crossing since 1898, it was not before the 1930s that two fully dedicated road bridges, Jacques-Cartier and Mercier, were built. [8] [9] More spans, including Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Bridge–Tunnel and Champlain Bridge, were built in the 1960s. [10] [11] No new span was built for over 50 years, until a replacement Champlain Bridge was constructed at the cost of several billion dollars. It opened in 2019, while the previous span was closed to traffic to be demolished.
The construction of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s required extensive modifications for all spans that existed at the time. Those are not reflected in the table below.
Although the Rivière des Prairies is much smaller than the Saint Lawrence, bridge construction there did not begin until the 1840s—when rapid construction began on three wooden toll bridges to what is now Laval, one of which, Pont des Saints-Anges, collapsed in the 1880s and was never rebuilt. [2] The existence of regular ferry services across the river is attested from 1813, [15] but these ferries were discontinued when the bridges opened. The first railroad across the river was opened in 1876, and the Bordeaux Railway Bridge is the oldest fixed link to Laval that is still standing. (Another bridge across Rivière des Mille Îles, which was part of the same line, collapsed in 1882 but was immediately rebuilt. [2] ) The highway construction boom of the 1960s and 1970s led to the construction of four new freeway bridges across the river, and the upgrading of the existing Pie IX Bridge to freeway standards. [2]
The first railway bridge to Montreal Island was the Grand Trunk Railway bridge across the Ottawa River East Channel. Along with another bridge built simultaneously across the West Channel, this bridge provided the first fixed link from Montreal to the mainland. [3] It was not until 1925, however, that a fixed road link, formed by Galipeault Bridge and Taschereau Bridge, was built across the Ottawa River from Montreal Island. [31] Île Perrot was the only way out of Montreal to the West before the construction of Île aux Tourtes Bridge, which goes directly to Vaudreuil across the Lake of Two Mountains. [31]
All three spans across the Ottawa River East Channel are twinned by another span, built simultaneously, across the West Channel.
Span | Picture | First span built | Current span built | Communities linked | Carries | Name origin | Coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Île aux Tourtes Bridge | — | 1966 [31] [K] | (M) Senneville | Autoroute 40/Trans-Canada Highway | Île aux Tourtes (literally, Wild Pigeon island) [32] | 45°25′13″N73°59′7″W / 45.42028°N 73.98528°W (Across Lake of Two Mountains) | |
(I) Île Girwood, Île aux Tourtes | |||||||
(O) Vaudreuil-Dorion | |||||||
Canadian Pacific Rail Bridge | — | 1893 [33] | (M) Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue | (no official names) | 45°24′12″N73°57′24″W / 45.40333°N 73.95667°W (Across Canal Sainte-Anne) | ||
(I) Île Bellevue | |||||||
(O) Île Perrot | |||||||
Canadian National Rail Bridge | — | 1854 [3] | (M) Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue | 45°24′12″N73°57′24″W / 45.40333°N 73.95667°W (Across Canal Sainte-Anne) | |||
(I) Île Bellevue | |||||||
(O) Île Perrot | |||||||
Galipeault Bridge | 1925 [31] | 1991, 2009 [34] [L] | (M) Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue | Autoroute 20 and Route Verte 5 | Antonin Galipeault (1879–1971), Quebec politician | 45°24′10″N73°57′21″W / 45.40278°N 73.95583°W (Across Canal Sainte-Anne) | |
(I) Île Bellevue | |||||||
(O) Île Perrot | |||||||
Île d'Orléans is an island located in the Saint Lawrence River about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of downtown Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It was one of the first parts of the province to be colonized by the French, and a large percentage of French Canadians can trace ancestry to early residents of the island. The island has been described as the "microcosm of traditional Quebec and as the birthplace of francophones in North America."
The Island of Montreal is a large island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, which is the site of a number of municipalities, including most of the city of Montreal, and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main island of the Hochelaga Archipelago at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa rivers.
The Saguenay River is a major river of Quebec, Canada. It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east; the city of Saguenay is located on the river. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River. Tadoussac, founded as a French colonial trading post in 1600, is located on the northeast bank at this site.
Trois-Rivières is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of Bécancour. It is part of the densely populated Quebec City–Windsor Corridor and is approximately halfway between Montreal and Quebec City. Trois-Rivières is the economic and cultural hub of the Mauricie region. The settlement was founded by French colonists on July 4, 1634, as the second permanent settlement in New France, after Quebec City in 1608.
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 Saint Helen's Island in the centre of the river, where offramps allow access to the Parc Jean-Drapeau and La Ronde amusement park.
Nuns' Island is an island located in the Saint Lawrence River that forms a part of the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is part of the borough of Verdun.
Route 138 is a major highway in the Canadian province of Quebec, following the entire north shore of the St. Lawrence River past Montreal to the temporary eastern terminus in Kegashka on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The western terminus is in Elgin, at the border with New York State south-west of Montreal. Part of this highway is known as the Chemin du Roy, or King's Highway, which is one of the oldest highways in Canada.
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 the US border. It carries Route 138, originally Route 4. It is 1.361 km (0.846 mi) in length and contains four steel trusses on its first section. The height of the bridge varies from 12.44 m (40.8 ft) to 33.38 m (109.5 ft) with the highest sections located over the St. Lawrence Seaway. The bridge is named after former premier of Quebec Honoré Mercier.
Autoroute 19, also known as Autoroute Papineau, is an autoroute in Quebec. It crosses the Rivière des Prairies via the Papineau-Leblanc Bridge, connecting the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville in Montreal and the Duvernay neighbourhood in Laval.
The Jacques-Cartier River is a river in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is 161 km long and its source is Jacques-Cartier Lake in Laurentides Wildlife Reserve, and flows in a predominantly southern direction before ending in the Saint Lawrence River at Donnacona, about 30 km upstream from Quebec City.
The Saint-Charles River is the main watercourse crossing Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
The Montmorency River is a tributary of North-East bank of St. Lawrence river, flowing in the administrative region of Capitale-Nationale, in the province of Quebec, Canada. The course of the river successively crosses the regional county municipality of:
Rivière-Pentecôte is a village on the north shore of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, part of the township of Port-Cartier.
The Archipelago of Lake Saint Pierre counts 103 islands in the western part of Lake Saint Pierre, in the Canadian province of Quebec. There are two groups: Islands of Berthier to the north and the islands of Sorel to the south.
The Cap-Rouge river is a river flowing on the north shore of the Saint-Laurent river at the height of the Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge borough of Quebec City and in the city of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, both cities in the administrative region of Capitale-Nationale, in the province of Quebec, Canada.
The lac Jacques-Cartier, main source of the Jacques-Cartier River, is a glacial lake located in the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve, about 90 km to the north of the city of Quebec, in the unorganized territory of Lac-Jacques-Cartier, in the La Côte-de-Beaupré Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Capitale-Nationale, in the province of Quebec, in Canada.
The Rivière du Sud is a tributary of the Richelieu River, flowing successively in the municipalities of Saint-Alexandre, Saint-Sébastien, Clarenceville and Henryville, in the Le Haut-Richelieu Regional County Municipality, in Montérégie, on the south shore of Fleuve Saint-Laurent, in province of Quebec, in Canada.