Deconstruction of the original Champlain Bridge

• Demolition of 4 spans and 3 piers
• 18 excavators operated simultaneously
• 10,000 tonnes of deconstruction materials taken away for reuse and recycling
• Work completed after 50 hours

Section 7 : Brossard

Fall 2022 – October 2022 to April 2023

• Deconstruction of the spans on the Brossard jetty
• Treatment of the concrete floor on the jetty

Anticipated Impacts:

• Noise from impact and daytime operations for several weeks (October 2022 to April 2023), in compliance with criteria
• Visible dust in the vicinity of the site
• Storage of materials
• Trucking during permitted hours   

Mitigation Measures:

• Use of hammers with noise suppression (5 to 10 dBa reduction)​
• Noisier work performed during the day​
• Monitoring of noise levels by real-time sound level meters
• Use of water cannons to reduce dust
• Real-time monitoring of air quality

Section 5 : St. Lawrence River

Our deconstruction teams have finished removing the piers from section 5 and are currently finalizing the removal of the last pier footings using special-purpose excavators on the barges.

This work over the river will finish in December 2022.  So far, 43 piers and 34 footings have been deconstructed between Île des Sœurs and the St. Lawrence Seaway. (Updated November 2022)

Deconstruction steps: footings

1. Two barges assembled into an “L” shape surround the footings, which are retained with sheet piles.
2. Once the sheet piles are in place, excavators with GPS positioning systems extract the footing from the bed of the St. Lawrence River.
3. The space in the river bed left by the removed footing is restored with stone fill, and the sheet piles are removed.

It takes about 20 days to remove each footing.

Nouvel Horizon Saint-Laurent (NHSL) is removing the jetty on the Île des Soeurs side, in the section adjacent to the Estacade entrance to recover materials that are no longer needed.

Section 6 : Seaway

Deconstruction of the span’s west cantilever section will begin in late November 2022 and continue until spring 2023.

Nearly 580 steel components to be cut and lowered

579 steel components remain to be cut apart and lowered onto the jetty during work on the west span (seaway dike area) of Section 6.

Steel reinforcements and two temporary support systems were installed above and below the existing structure. This equipment will allow the structure to be cut into two sections to deconstruct them from the center towards the pillars.

The 5 steps of a lifting operation:

1. To lift a component from the bridge, engineers have to identify and calculate the weight to be lifted.
2. Once the weight is determined, cutting lines are painted onto the component.
3. The component is attached to a crane, and crews on the bridge deck cut the steel into pieces.
4. Finally, the component is lowered and placed on the jetty by the crane.
5. The materials are sent to authorized recycling centres.

All works may generate trucking, noise due to the deconstruction work and the off-site transportation of materials, dust emissions and occasional local traffic hindrances.

• Jetty: The jetty allows the dismantling of structural elements of the bridge in areas on the shore where the use of barges is not possible due to the shallow water. 
• Pier: The pier of a bridge, or the “leg”, is an intermediate support supporting the deck of the structure. 
• Footing: A footing of a bridge, or the “foot”, is the base that takes up the loads of the bridge. 
• Abutment: The abutment of a bridge is the part located on the shore intended to support the weight of a deck.  
• Deck: The deck of a bridge is a load-bearing structure that supports the loads of road traffic. 
• Span: The span of a bridge is the part between two piers or between a pier and an abutment. 
• Pier cap: The pier cap of a bridge is the upper part of a pier when the deck rests on it by means of one or more supports.