Major part of old Champlain Bridge comes down in Montreal

MONTREAL -

A major part of the Old Champlain Bridge came down this weekend, as the 60-year-old structure is taken down piece-by-piece.

The bridge opened to traffic in 1962 and was closed in 2019.

A major chunk of its steel structure is now gone.

"This portion was especially impressive and delicate and so several months of planning," said Natalie Lessard of the Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI).

Courtesy of strand jacks and a barge for the structure to rest on, the steel piece was lowered onto the St-Lawrence Seaway, at a time when the seaway is closed.

"We had a very small window of opportunity when we could do this," said Lassard. "That’s why we’re doing this in the middle of January instead of during the summer."

Many in the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawake on Montreal's South Shore hold a close connection to the old bridge, as community ironworkers helped build it.

"Ironworkers enjoy building and when something comes down we also know guess what? They’re going to build something else," said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake Chief and former ironworker Lindsay Leborgne. "We also had people from our community work on the original and also worked on the replacement bridge."

The steel span will be pulled upstream and eventually taken apart. Dismantling of the entire bridge is scheduled to take two more years.