Quebec Bridge
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Quebec Bridge Pont de Québec |
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The Quebec bridge from the west side.
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| Coordinates | 46°44′46″N 71°17′16″W / 46.74611°N 71.28778°W |
| Carries |
Route 175  Canadian National Railway and Via Rail 1 pedestrian walkway |
| Crosses | St. Lawrence River |
| Locale | Quebec City, and Lévis, Quebec |
| Maintained by | Canadian National Railway |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Cantilever bridge |
| Total length | 987 m (3,238 ft) |
| Width | 29 m (95 ft) wide |
| Longest span | 549 m (1,801 ft) |
| Clearance above | (?) |
| Clearance below | (?) |
| Number of lanes | 3 |
| Rail characteristics | |
| No. of tracks | 2 |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
| Structure gauge | AAR |
| Electrified | No |
| History | |
| Opened | December 3, 1919 |
| Statistics | |
| Toll | none since 1942 |
| Designated | 1995 |
The Quebec Bridge (Pont de Québec in French) is a road, rail and pedestrian bridge across the lower Saint Lawrence River between Sainte-Foy (since 2002 a western suburb of Quebec City) and Lévis, Quebec, Canada. The project failed twice, at the cost of 88 lives, and took over 30 years to complete.
The Quebec Bridge is a riveted steel truss structure and is 987 m (3,238 ft) long, 29 m (95 ft) wide, and 104 m (341 ft) high. Cantilever arms 177 m (581 ft) long support a 195 m (640 ft) central structure, for a total span of 549 m (1,801 ft), still the longest cantilever bridge span in the world. (It was the all-categories longest span in the world until the Ambassador Bridge was completed in 1929.) It is the easternmost (farthest downstream) complete crossing of the Saint Lawrence.
The bridge accommodates three highway lanes (none until 1929, one until 1949, two until 1993), one rail line (two until 1949), and a pedestrian walkway (originally two); at one time it also carried a streetcar line. It has been owned by the Canadian National Railway since 1993.
The Quebec Bridge was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1995.
Before the Quebec Bridge was built, the only way to travel from the south shore of the St. Lawrence in Lévis to the north shore at Quebec City was to take a ferry or use the winter-time ice bridge. As far back as 1852 a project for a bridge over the St. Lawrence River at Quebec was considered, and again, in 1867, 1882, and 1884. After a period of political instability, through which Canada had four Prime Ministers in five years, Wilfrid Laurier, Member of Parliament for the federal riding of Quebec East, was elected on a Liberal platform in 1896, and was to spearhead the first Quebec bridge until he left office in 1911.
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Wikipedia