Official name none Longest span 124 m Province Québec | Clearance below 18 m Location Kahnawake 14 Bridge type Truss bridge | |
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Carries Canadian Pacific Railway, AMT Crosses St. Lawrence River
and the Saint Lawrence Seaway Locale Kahnawake, Quebec and Montreal, Quebec Design 2 Truss bridges, includes twin lift Bridges No. of tracks 2, (1 per parallel spans) Bodies of water Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence Seaway Similar Saint Lawrence Seaway, Pont de la Concorde, Louis Bisson Bridge, Pie IX Bridge, Le Gardeur Bridge | ||
The Saint-Laurent Railway Bridge is a Canadian Pacific railway bridge linking LaSalle to the Kahnawake Mohawk Reserve, just upstream of the Mercier Bridge. It is used by the AMT Candiac commuter train.
History of the bridge
Two bridges have crossed the river at this location. The first bridge, erected in 1885-1887, was of all-steel construction that employed a flying cantilever design to cross the main channel. It carried a single track and was opened for passenger service at the end of July, 1887.
The second structure, the one standing today, was constructed between 1910 and 1913 and was completed by November 13, 1913. To build the bridge, the free ends of the main spans were floated across the water on a barge. Construction of the new bridge was completed while keeping the old bridge in service. Extra piers were added and the design changed significantly.
Construction of the Saint Lawrence Seaway required the construction of twin vertical lift bridges replacing the exising fixed spans. This section has two elevator winches (functioning as a drawbridge) able to lift the section up to 70 feet (21 metres) above the initial level, in order to allow ships to pass.