I can remember as a child, my mother telling me that it was a Wonder of the World, and so it was to her generation who saw it in its amazing new glory. It was and still is, the longest steel cantilever bridge in the world. It’s almost as if the highway was purposely built to give this sudden view as you round that last corner.
 | |
| The Quebec Bridge from the Pierre LaPorte Bridge. |
The St. Lawrence River is 191 feet deep at the point and over 3000 feet wide. The current runs at a very swift 7 miles per hour. This is a mighty river and the building of the Quebec Bridge was an amazing accomplishment and not without great tragedy. There were two collapses during the building and opening was delayed until 1919. The bridge has three lanes of auto traffic, two pedestrian lanes, and one train. At its tallest point, it is 340 feet high. The Canadian Department of Heritage in 1996 declared it a National Historic Site.
Today the Quebec Bridge is dwarfed by the Pierre Laporte Bridge, which runs alongside it, but nothing can compare to the feeling that I get when I see the original Quebec Bridge. If you are driving into Quebec make the effort to cross on it, it’s a wonderful experience, a moment of history.
No comments:
Post a Comment