Bridges

Quebec City's Bridges

Two bridges span the St. Lawrence River to provide access to and from the south shore of Quebec City. The first of these, the Quebec Bridge, has a long and famous history.

Before the Quebec Bridge was built, the only way of getting from the South shore of the Quebec City region to the North shore was to take a boat across. At the end of the 1800's, people started to ask for a bridge to make the crossing of the river easier. The following article is taken from a Quebec Morning Chronicle of March 1897:

THE BRIDGE

The bridge question has again been revived after many years of slumber, and business men in Quebec seem hopeful that something will come of it, though the placing of a subsidy on the statute book is but a small part of the work to be accomplished, as some of its enthusiastic promoters will, ere long, discover. Both Federal and Provincial Governments seem disposed to contribute towards the cost, and the City of Quebec will also be expected to do its share. Many of our people have objected to any contribution being given by the city unless the bridge is built opposite the town, and the CHRONICLE like every other good citizen of Quebec would prefer to see it constructed at Diamond Harbor, and has contended in the interests of the city for this site as long as there seemed to be any possibility of securing it there. It would still do so if it appeared that our people could have it at that site. A bridge at Diamond Harbor would, it estimated, cost at least eight millions. It would be very nice to have, with its double track, electric car track, and roads for vehicles and pedestrians, and would no doubt create a goodly traffic between the two towns, and be one of the show works of the continent.

Work on the Quebec Bridge first started in 1900. On 29 August 1907, when the bridge was almost complete, the southern section of the bridge fell almost 50 metres into the water below and killed seventy-five workers. The disaster was blamed on a faulty design.
Work on the bridge continued nevertheless, but on 11 September 1916, as the centre section of the bridge was being hoisted into place, it fell into the river, killing thirteen workers.
The Quebec Bridge was finally opened on 22 August 1919 by the Prince of Wales Edward VIII. It is the longest cantilever bridge in the world.
The second bridge is called the Pierre Laporte Bridge, named after Pierre Laporte, a minister in the Quebec government in 1970, who was kidnapped and later murdered by members of the Front de Libération du Québec, a militant organization whose goal was to separate Quebec from the rest of Canada, using force if necessary. The Pierre Laporte bridge is a modern suspension type bridge.

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