MONTREAL - It’s still unknown how it will look and what it will be named, but the successor to the Champlain Bridge -- Canada’s most-travelled span -- will be operational by 2021, according to federal Transport Minister Denis Lebel who unveiled some details of the plan in a press conference in Montreal Thursday.
One of the first steps will be to build a temporary causeway from Montreal to Nun’s Island, to allow that part of the span to be demolished and replaced. The new bridge will be built in a spot adjacent to where the current bridge now stands.
The causeway, a man-made landmass which will connect the two islands, will contain holes in the base to allow water to keep flowing through the structure. It will contain a road with three lanes of traffic on each side.
The temporary structure should be ready by 2015.
The federal government is still accepting bids and fielding proposals to determine the exact design of the upcoming bridge, which should be ready by 2021.
Three 50-year-old overpasses related to the bridge on Highway 15 will be demolished and replaced, it was also announced.
The Champlain Bridge was built 50 years ago at the cost of about $35 million. Its replacement is expected to cost around $5 billion. Tolls which cost eight cents in 1962, are expected to cost $2.
