‘A New Chapter’: Main Span of Champlain Bridge Dismantled and Retired

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South Shore residents had a rare sight Friday when crews dismantled the first part of the superstructure of the old Champlain Bridge and transported it upstream on two massive barges.

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The 2,200-ton, 117.5-meter span is the largest piece to date removed from the old bridge. The process was expected to take up to 24 hours and began by propping up the section to ensure it remained in one piece after removal. It was separated from the rest of the superstructure overnight Thursday night and lifted with devices called string jacks that are used for extremely heavy loads.

Throughout Friday, it gradually lowered from its height of 33 meters to the water level, where two huge barges were waiting. It was to be towed upstream to a facility in Brossard, where it will be dismantled this spring so the steel can be reused for a future project.

“It’s a new chapter being written right now,” said Richard Gagnon, 62, whose backyard in Brossard overlooks the bridge. “I have memories of my youth on that bridge, so it’s kind of weird to see this happen.”

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Gagnon moved to the South Shore at the turn of the century and has seen the landscape transform. Over the past six years, you’ve seen the new Samuel-De Champlain bridge built, witnessed the construction of the REM light rail network, and over the past year and a half, you’ve seen the slow dismantling of the old bridge.

Friday’s operation took two years to design and several weeks to prepare, and it took a crew of 50 to complete. The date was chosen well in advance, because it turned out to be a time when there were no commercial activities on the seaway that runs on both sides of the structure. The weather also had to cooperate to avoid too much wind during the operation, said Nathalie Lessard, communications director for Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Inc., the federal Crown corporation that manages the old bridge. Once this is done, there will be a lot of space left in the superstructure, he said.

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As of Friday, the bridge’s decommissioning is 50 percent complete and on track to be completed before the original January 2024 deadline, Lessard said. The 43-month process is being led by Nouvel Horizon St-Laurent GP

The steel from the superstructure will be delivered to a company or groups that come up with innovative ways to reuse it. A contest to reuse the approximately 400 steel components closed on December 31st and winners will be announced in the spring.

Once that happens, the bridge authority will provide information on how people can obtain a piece of the old bridge as a souvenir. The pieces will be delivered free of charge by the bridge authority, but Lessard said details of the program have not yet been worked out.

Lessard said watching the bridge get dismantled is bittersweet for engineers and those who have worked at the Crown Corporation during the construction and demolition process.

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She recalled how hundreds of millions were spent over many years propping up the aging structure to extend its life while the new bridge was being built.

“We took great care of this bridge over the years to ensure it would remain open to traffic until its last day of operation,” Lessard said. “But we are also very proud of how this (deconstruction) project is going. It is going well in terms of engineering and our objectives of sustainable development and protection of the environment ”.

He added that it is not every day that a bridge the size of the Champlain is dismantled.

“It’s a landmark project,” Lessard said. “There is a lot of pride among everyone involved, knowing that it is a once in a lifetime opportunity for everyone.”

The public can see images of the deconstruction process in a flickr site that has been configured to document the project.

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