New bridge: Pont Maurice-Richard?
Metro has a dossier this week on the new Champlain bridge, with thoughts on how a major new bridge can become iconic and an outline of the steps taken to design a major new structure. They also polled the public about their feelings on the importance of making the new bridge into a big architectural statement.
The new bridge may be named the pont Maurice-Richard. I have no problem with honouring the Rocket, but two things occur to me: wouldn’t this rub it in that we haven’t had any spectacular hockey star in decades? And what happens to the deleted honour to Champlain – wouldn’t something else have to be found and named after him?
TiGuy 10:38 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
Il existe déjà environ 23 noms de lieux sur l’île de Montréal pour rendre hommage à Samuel de Champlain.
Noah 10:41 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
Why can’t everyone just leave well enough alone? I love the idea of honouring new people, especially someone like The Rocket who stood for good values and is one of the few people ALL Quebecers love regardless of any other potential factor… but the Champlain is the Champlain and should stay the Champlain. Why are we constantly looking to re-engineer history? There are lots of good ways to honour Maurice Richard – leave the Champlain Bridge as the Champlain Bridge, new or old.
steph 10:58 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
I’m certain even if they build a new bridge, they aren’t going to remove the older one, but they’re going to ease the traffic off it. Like in Quebec City the Pierre Laport bridge replaced the aging Pont De Quebec without tearing it down. And with autoroute 30 being completed in 2013, a bypass route to the south will reduce congestion on the city’s bridge and highway network by offering an alternative for through-traffic. I know they’ve been working at it, but it’s beyond me why this byway wasn’t a priority
Kate 11:24 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
TiGuy: selon le site toponymique du Québec il y a 8 utilisations du nom Champlain sur l’Île de Montréal, incluant “le haut-fond Champlain” à Lachine qui est au milieu du fleuve! Rien d’importance égal à un grand pont.
Bill Binns 11:26 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
I love the idea of an architecturally interesting bridge that will serve as an icon for the city but I wonder if the Champlain bridge isn’t too far away from downtown to serve that purpose. A big impressive replacement for the Cartier bridge may be better since it is visible from downtown. As far as the Champlain replacement, how about a double decker 16 lane monster that will never see a traffic jam?
Faiz Imam 13:34 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
Cartier is in perfect condition, no point.
But while its not as close to town, Champlain is visible on many of the standard tourist shots of the city, and it IS the most used bridge in Canada. It’s as good a candidate for world renowned architecture as any.
as for a 16 lane monster… the 720 is 4 lanes, and Bonaventure is 6, the south shore side is 8. making the bridge wider is the definition of useless.
Anyways, its already agreed that the new bridge will be 6 extra-wide lanes, plus 2 for shoulder and 2 for buses.
@steph: They are almost certainly going to cease all operation on the old bridge, if not demolish it completely. The problem is that too much of the superstructure is rusting and disintegrating. thus it needs continual inspection. At this point it is legally untenable to keep the bridge in active use. If anything were to happen it would be disastrous.
Bill Binns 14:08 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
@Faiz Imam – Point taken on the Cartier. I assumed all of the bridges were crumbling except the trusty old Victoria. As for the 16 lane Idea…roads can be (and usually are) widened at some point. Bridges usually cannot be widened. An abundance of lanes also means the bridge can be maintained without causing bottlenecks.
ant6n 15:14 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
@Faiz
I thought the problem was that the decks of the Champlain bridge used pre stressed concrete, but the all the decks are stressed together – meaning you couldn’t replace a deck without the whole thing loosing structural integrity. Afaik the span over the st lawrence shipping canal was replaced/renovated at some point, and is structurally sound.
Paul Schweltz 15:56 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
I posted my comment but it did not appear.
qatzelok 16:05 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
We need to spend the last of our transit pennies on gold-plated car infrastructure. The only questions are how much gold, and who to name it after.
TiGuy 17:35 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
Kate: vous avez raison. J’en avais trop compté.
Kate 19:15 on 2012/06/18 Permalink
@PaulSchweltz I checked the pending comment list and your comment isn’t there. I don’t know what you did but I’m sorry the comment got lost.