Will a rare century-old iron bridge be destroyed? In Montérégie, the MRC des Maskoutains wanted to preserve the old green structure that spans the Noire River. But faced with pressure from local farmers, the MRC recanted. She now pleads for its destruction. However, expert opinions underline the major heritage importance of this now very unusual steel truss bridge.
The Paré bridge is located in the hinterland of the small municipality of Saint-Valérien-de-Milton. Of works of this type, there remain at most a dozen in Quebec. Of the Baltimore type, with its iron half-frames, this bridge is apparently the longest of its kind still standing in Quebec. It was erected just after the First World War.
Such engineering works had, at the beginning of the 20the century, supplanted the traditional wooden covered bridges. Pending patient repair, the Paré bridge has been closed to traffic since 2014.
If the MRC now insists on destroying it, like the municipality of Saint-Valérien-de-Milton, which agrees, it is because of pressure exerted by a few local farmers. In the name of increasingly oversized equipment, farmers have argued that they want to benefit from a new, larger structure. This would exempt them from having to cross the bed of the river any further. These voices in favor of destruction imposed themselves on the municipality as well as on the MRC.
Since winter, the MRC des Maskoutains has completely changed its tune with regard to the Paré bridge. The engineering work designed by the MacKinnon Steel Company Limited that she wanted to preserve, now she pleads for it to be demolished. She abolished a resolution she passed in 2020 for the preservation of this bridge.
In principle, the new law on cultural heritage entrusts the RCMs with the responsibility of ensuring the protection of Quebec heritage on their territory.
A great heritage interest
Two expert reports, one from 2010 and the other from 2022, produced by the independent firm Patri-Arch, affirm that the bridge is of great heritage interest, while underlining its value for the community. The duty was able to consult these reports. The bridge is considered to be of superior heritage interest, in particular because of its integrity and its rarity. Furthermore, the Maskoutain Heritage Commission has spoken out on several occasions on the importance of preserving such infrastructures.
Before changing its tune this spring, the MRC des Maskoutains itself maintained that “metal bridges are rare and interesting objects”. It also indicated that the Paré bridge constitutes “an important identity landmark” which marks like no other “the cultural landscape” of the region.
The MRC des Maskoutains was firmly committed to preserving the Paré bridge, indicating that another bridge of the same type – the penultimate in the region – had already been sacrificed to the demolition workers a few years ago.
The last
The Paré bridge is the last of its type on the entire territory of this MRC, confirms a redacted document obtained by The duty under the Freedom of Information Act.
According to François Dufaux, professor at the School of Architecture at Laval University, and the architect specialist in heritage Anne Vallières, the presence of bridges on the Black River makes it possible to discover valleys. These narrow strips, formed by the meanders of the rivers, constitute “hidden treasures” in the heart of the agricultural territory and its exceptional landscapes.
Before the Ministry of Transport, in the 1970s, adopted green for all structures of this type, this bridge which crosses the Black River was gray in color.
Fragile wooden bridges, privately owned, initially allowed the first parishioners of the hamlet of Egypt, which would later become Saint-Valérien, to cross the Black River. A curious appellation planted in the middle of the landscape until today. The inhabitants of these spaces of colonization named a row Japan, not far from there, to signify that they were there, in a way, at the end of the world. It is towards this space of memories that the Paré bridge still crosses.
The bridge allows the passage of only one vehicle at a time. It tolerates at most a load of 12 tons. Planted in the middle of a rural landscape, this bridge is used mainly by the surrounding population and by a few users of seasonal cabins.
Duty to set an example
The Department of Culture and Communications found itself, according to documents obtained by The duty, to insist with the MRC that this bridge be preserved. Under the new heritage law, an MRC should in principle set an example in terms of heritage protection.
It is this same MRC, whose head office is in Saint-Hyacinthe, which had launched a vast movement a few months ago so that the State ensures that better conditions of insurability for old houses are promoted throughout Quebec. . So far, hundreds of municipalities have adopted resolutions based on the one produced by this MRC. They hope that the Quebec state will do more in this regard.
In a redacted document from the Direction de la Montérégie of the Ministry of Culture and Communications (MCC) that was able to consult The duty, we learn that the State in turn is asking this MRC to do more. Despite “the lack of classification of the Paré bridge”, the department does indeed consider, unlike the MRC, that the Paré bridge “deserves to be preserved because of its great heritage interest”.
The regional management of the MCC recalls at the same time that the RCMs and municipalities have the power, under the law, to cite heritage works to ensure their protection and sustainability. In the present case, both the MRC and the municipality plead on the contrary for the destruction of a property whose heritage interest is solidly documented.
The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (MTMD) confirms to the Duty that the modalities for the repair of the bridge are still under study. “The project is progressing well”, we are assured. But the schedule for future work is still not known, even though the bridge has been closed for almost a decade. “We are working on his rehabilitation,” said a spokesperson.
For the MTMD, there is no doubt in any case that this work “presents a high heritage interest”. The regional spokesperson for the Montérégie also indicates to the Duty that, “when the evaluation by experts reveals a high heritage index, the Department must take the necessary measures with its partners to ensure its preservation”. Who, in the end, will be right in front of this old bridge?