Montreal’s Champlain Bridge opens but late and over-budget

Montreal’s US$3.5-billion, 3.4km-long Samuel de Champlain Bridge has opened after four years of construction and months of delays, according to Canadian media reports. Work is continuing on the cycle and pedestrian paths and eventually a light-rail train will run down the middle of the six lane bridge over the St. Lawrence River. The new structure has a life-span of 125 years and runs alongside its namesake Champlain Bridge, a steel truss cantilever that opened in 1962 which will be demolished. Accord
June 27, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
Montreal’s Champlain Bridge opens but late and over-budget
Montreal’s US$3.5-billion, 3.4km-long Samuel de Champlain Bridge has opened after four years of construction and months of delays, according to Canadian media reports.


Work is continuing on the cycle and pedestrian paths and eventually a light-rail train will run down the middle of the six lane bridge over the St. Lawrence River.

The new structure has a life-span of 125 years and runs alongside its namesake Champlain Bridge, a steel truss cantilever that opened in 1962 which will be demolished. According to media reports, the old bridge was the busiest in Canada, carrying over 50 million vehicles a year and an estimated $15 billion worth of trade.

Signature on the St Lawrence (SSL) - led by Canada-based SNC-Lavalin Group - is the private consortium that built the six-lane public-private project under a 30-year contract.

The new and old bridges are named after the French explorer Samuel de Champlain who founded Quebec City, the Quebec province’s capital, in 1608. Work includes construction of a smaller bridge for Île des Soeurs - Nun’s Island - and widening Autoroute 15 through the centre of Montreal.

World Highways %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external reported false https://www.worldhighways.com/categories/road-highway-structures/features/montreals-new-champlain-bridge-is-shaping-up-for-christmas/ false false%> on the progress of the bridge last year.

Road Structures

Related Content

  • Manitowoc MLC650 cranes keep Champlain Bridge on track
    October 28, 2016
    Two Manitowoc MLC650s are working on a project to replace the Champlain Bridge that spans the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal, Canada. The engineering consortium - Signature on the Saint Lawrence Construction (SSLC) – is assigned to the task. The capacity and reduced ground preparation made possible by the MLC650’s VPC-MAX attachment – as well as the ease of use of its Crane Control System (CCS) – are helping the team stay on schedule. The Champlain Bridge connects one of North America’s busiest road
    Read More
  • PPRA Niagara Falls: getting better value for road maintenance budgets
    August 19, 2015
    Larger road budgets would go a long way towards maintaining in top shape highway infrastructure across the United States and Canada. But even considering what is being spent now, are road owners and highway contractors getting the biggest bang for their buck? That’s what delegates to this year’s Pavement Preservation Recycling Alliance conference in the beautiful Canadian resort city of Niagara Falls will find out from October 13-15. “One of the things that I learned in Paris at the first Pavement Preser
    Read More
  • London’s congestion charge is saving lives, a study suggests
    March 9, 2015
    Traffic accidents in the UK capital London have declined 40% since the introduction of a congestion charge in 2003, according to a new study. The number of accidents per million miles driven in the congestion zone fell to 2.6 accidents per million miles from an average of 12.4 before the introduction of the charge. Researchers at Lancaster University also found a similar fall in the number of people seriously injured or killed. As well, accident rates fell in adjacent areas as a result of fewer motorists dr
    Read More
  • Testing and striping underway for Seattle’s Alaskan Way tunnel
    August 31, 2018
    Crews have been working flat out on the Alaskan Way Tunnel in Seattle to install and test thousands of components and 90 interconnected systems. The client, Washing State Department of Transportation, said that Seattle Tunnel Partners began installation inside the double-deck State Route 99 tunnel in March after crews completed construction of the upper and lower roadways. STP said that testing could be complete by as early as late September and the tunnel could open as soon as this fall after an ap
    Read More

Highlighted Content