Motorists, arm yourself with patience: as of October 31, three lanes out of six will be closed in the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine bridge-tunnel, and this, at least until 2025. A matter of keeping busy when you get stuck in a traffic jam in the tunnel, we unearthed some information for you on this major highway in greater Montreal.
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Why do we speak of a “bridge-tunnel”?
This is because the artery has two parts:
- The “bridge” portion, between Boucherville and Île Charron.
- The “tunnel” portion, which begins at Île Charron and plunges under the bed of the St. Lawrence River to emerge west of the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, in the Longue-Pointe district.
Interesting fact: the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine bridge-tunnel came close to being a suspension bridge. The option to make it a tunnel was finally won for cost reasons, according to the archives of the City of Montreal.
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Who exactly is Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine?
Let’s make something clear: it’s not Louis-Polite La Fontaine, but Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine.
Before being a bridge-tunnel, Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine was a French-Canadian politician and judge in Lower Canada. He was the third premier of Canada East, from 1842 to 1843, then from 1848 to 1851.
PHOTO Archives of the City of Montreal
Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine
The bridge-tunnel was named in his honor because Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine was from Boucherville.
He would probably not be too happy to learn that his name enrages motorists so much almost two centuries later…
The town of Long Point shaved
It was in 1962 that the Premier of Quebec at the time, Jean Lesage, decided to build a bridge-tunnel between Montreal and Boucherville. The road axis was inaugurated on March 11, 1967.
PHOTO Archives of the City of Montreal
Aerial view of the old village of Longue-Pointe before its demolition in 1964
To carry out this gigantic project, the small village of Longue-Pointe was razed.
In total, 300 families have been expropriated. Houses dating from the time of the French Regime were also destroyed, as was the church of Saint-François-d’Assise.
Four proposed routes
Before its construction, four routes were studied.
The first route developed passed through Pie-IX Boulevard and would have required major expropriations and demolitions, in addition to threatening Maisonneuve Park.
The second route led to Broadway Avenue, in Montreal East. The presence of oil refineries contributed in particular to ensuring that this route was not chosen.
PHOTO Archives of the City of Montreal
The third route led to the 81e Avenue, in Pointe-aux-Trembles. This project was the least expensive and would have required few expropriations on the island. On the South Shore, however, it was too far from the major highways, and it is for this reason in particular that this route was left aside.
Opening the tunnel on the Longue-Pointe side, in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, was therefore the best option in the eyes of the government to relieve traffic on the Jacques-Cartier Bridge.
A making-of exist!
If you are passionate about bridges and tunnels, a video produced by the former Ministry of Roads of Quebec and the Office du film du Québec traces the construction of the bridge-tunnel.
The video explains the project in depth. The construction of the bridge-tunnel cost some $75 million (equivalent to $625 million in 2022) and took four years, from 1963 to 1967.
- Listen to Benoit Dutrizac’s interview with Glenn Castanheira, General Manager of Montreal Centre-Ville on QUB Radio
Longest bridge-tunnel in the country
The some 120,000 motorists who drive on this highway every day may not be aware of it – there were 39,000 when it was inaugurated – but they take the longest concrete bridge-tunnel in Canada.
It stretches for almost two kilometres: the tunnel is 1.5 km long, to which is added the 457-meter bridge.
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