A Construction Site in the Middle of the River
An aerial view of the bridge-tunnel, 1964.
Quebec Transport Ministry Archives
The highway through Boucherville is taking shape, 1964.
Quebec Transport Ministry Archives
The Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine bridge-tunnel features an underground portion and an elevated portion. The complex spans from Hochelaga’s curves to the south shore interchange. To speed up construction, the Road Department divided up the project into ten overlapping contracts from July 15, 1963, to March 11, 1967.
“This bridge-tunnel is the most important undertaking of our platform”
Arthur Branchaud, chief engineer of the Road Department.
A quick technical overview
- Total length: 1,966 metres
- Size of one caisson: 110 metres in length by 37 in width, by 8 in height
- Weight of one caisson: 32,000 tons
- Size of the dry dock: 27.5 metres deep with an area of 113,312 square metres
- Average depth of the tunnel: 15 metres
- 6,360 tons of steel for a distance of 18,288 kilometres
- 191,139 cubic metres of concrete, enough to pave a sidewalk from Montreal to Miami
- Maximum slope: 4.5%