Prince of Wales Bridge

Prince of Wales Bridge
Looking west to the Prince of Wales Bridge
Coordinates	45°24′56″N 75°43′40″W / 45.41556°N 75.72778°W / 45.41556; -75.72778
Carries	Not in use
Crosses	Ottawa River, Lemieux Island
Locale	Ottawa-Gatineau, National Capital Region, Canada
Official name	English: Prince of Wales Bridge French: Pont Prince de Galles
Owner	City of Ottawa
Characteristics
Design	Truss bridge
Rail characteristics
No. of tracks	1, but not in use
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Structure gauge	AAR
History
Opened	1880
Closed	2005 (likely temporarily)

Coordinates: 45°24′56″N 75°43′40″W / 45.41556°N 75.72778°W / 45.41556; -75.72778

The Prince of Wales Bridge (French: Pont Prince de Galles) is a rail bridge across the Ottawa River joining Ottawa, Ontario to Gatineau, Quebec. It connected with the Canadian Pacific Railway line just west of Lebreton Flats, and crosses the south channel of the river to Lemieux Island; it then continues across the northern channel into Quebec.

It is a multi-span Pratt truss bridge, consisting of six equal spans over the south channel, and seven spans over the north channel; the second-last span, proceeding northward, is longer by a factor of about 1.7.

The bridge was built by the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway in 1880, named for Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. At that time, it was one of the few crossings of the Ottawa River, and was one of the most valuable assets of the line, which was owned by the Quebec provincial government. The QMO&O continued to lose money, however, and it was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1882, who connected it with their other recent purchase, the Canada Central Railway. This connection gave the CPR a solid rail route from their westward line being built from North Bay to the ports of the St. Lawrence. The Prince of Wales Bridge was joined by the CPR's Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge in 1901, the second railway bridge to cross the river between Ottawa and Hull.