The 72 years old Jacques Cartier Bridge is currently undergoing complete re-decking of the 5 lanes wide, 2.7 km long bridge deck. Over the St. Lawrence River, the bridge links the Island of Montreal to the South Shore community of Longueuil. The centre lane is reversible to accommodate peak rush hours. The bridge is generally constructed of simply supported steel trusses located below the deck with the exception of the main span which is a 590 m long cantilever type structure with overhead trusses spanning 50 m above the navigation channel to the Port of Montreal and the 76 m through truss span providing 38 m clearance for the St. Lawrence Seaway. The bridge carries some 43 millions vehicle transits annually, making it among the busiest in Canada. The new deck, prefabricated off site, is constructed of high performance concrete and is posttensioned in both longitudinal and transversal directions to control water infiltrations through construction joints. Some 1,680 prefabricated deck units, representing a surface area of about 62,000 m2, are being installed at night from April to October during 2001 and 2002. The replacement of the bridge deck, including sidewalk and a new bikeway, is a 120M$ rehabilitation project, the most important bridge repair work ever to be undertaken in Canada. The project was structured as a design-build involving the pre-qualification of contractors. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E211271.(Author/publisher).
Abstract