Magazine

JAQUES
CARTIER
BRIDGE
JAQUES
CARTIER
ITS
ARCHITECTURE
Living
connections
project

i
Jacques Cartier Bridge
The Jacques Cartier Bridge is an icon of the great Montreal because of its relevant function
which is to connect Longil with Montreal. It is considered as one the busiest bridges in Canada
because of its dense traffic which approximately is 35.8 million vehicles crossing annually.
Its total length is around 2,725 m, but including its approaches it would be 3,425.6 m long.
It was originally opened in to traffic on May 24 of 1930, and its creation was due to
the strong need of a new link between Montreal and the South Shore. Its construction
kept workers busy for 4 years and had to face problems such as a pronounced
curve on the highway due to a property owner who did not budge to sell his territory,
a total of five accidental deaths, a deep excavation on rocks to stabilize the piers
and some precautionary measures for people who became ill working at that depth.
Although the bridge was not created with the technological automatic toll system
that was installed later in 1956, this system was abolished years later of
its installation because of a scandal of tolls collectors pilfering money in 1962.
Since December 21st of 1978, The Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated
became responsible of the management, maintenance and monitoring
of the Jacques Cartier bridge. The corporation has maintained successfully
the bridge in many occasions, such as the “Full redecking of the Jacques
Cartier Bridge (2001 – 2002)” and the “Painting of the steel structure (1989 – 2000)”.
The corporation is also in charge of six others infrastructures throughout Montreal.
J a c q u e s
Cartier
Several places in Canada
honor Jacques Cartier,
the French explorer
who discovered Canada,
including the “Jacques
Cartier Bridge”, which
was first named as “Harbour
bridge” and then
changed because of Cartier’s
anniversary, and the
“Place Jacques-Cartier”,
which is a street located
at the entrance to the Old
Port of Montreal.
Philip Louis Pratley Dominion Bridge
Its Architecture
The principal builders and firms who gave a futurist
look to the bridge were Philip Louis Pratley (a
consulter engineer), Dominion Bridge (a steel expert
and sculptor) and the firms “Monsarrat and
Pratley of Montreal” and “J.B. Strauss of Chicago”
which were hired as consulting engineers. At
first, the bridge had four vehicular traffic lines and
two exclusive lines for the use of the streetcars,
but currently those two are not used anymore.
Construction
was undertaken by the
Dominion Bridge Company
starting in
1925

Project “Living Connections”
Architecture
The Jacque Cartier bridge’s structure
is divided into three sections,
but the most remarkable one is located
between Montreal and Saint
Helen’s Island. This section made
engineers face a big challenge in
order to combine aesthetics with
technique, as well as create a remarkable
interplay of proportions.
This one is also the highest part of
the bridge, measuring 49.4 m from
the ground. Recently in 2017, a project
called “Living Connections”
change totally the bridge’s architectural
design, specifically in the section
located between Montreal and
Saint Helen’s Island, highlighting
its structure with colorful lights.
jacque cartier bridge in montreal (martine doyon)
In order to celebrate the 150th anniversary
of Canada and the 375th
anniversary of Montreal, the project
“Living Connections” in 2017
refitted the bridge’s architectural
design by lighting it up colorfully.
This seems like a magnificent concept
until people’s opinions are
taken into account. Several comments
in popular social networks
such as Facebook or Twitter express
that many people enjoyed the light
Moment Factory in collaboration show but they are disagreeing with
with six local partners developed
the concept which synchs the lights
of the bridge with Montreal-related
social media activity, mood hashtags,
the costs of the illumination of the
Jacques Cartier bridge, which were
around $40 million. Lisa Vincelette
commented on Facebook “It’s
weather, seasons and traffic by gorgeous…but why spend mi-
using 365 different shades of color. llions upon millions of this when
there is so much that could have
been done with that money to help
out city,” as well as Christine Marlow
who posted on CBC’s Facebook
page: “Beautiful, but it should not
have cost $40 million. Feed the poor
and then light the bridge,”. Although
most people comment that it did not
worth such high price, Jean-Marc
Fournier, the leader of the Quebec
Liberal Party, thinks that it will give
a new life to the bridge and will be
a center of attention for Montreal.