The 7,500 islanders of Île d’Orléans will have a new bridge by 2028 – and its total bill will be close to three billion dollars, or seven times the estimate circulating in 2018. Quebec justifies the explosion of costs by the technical constraints of the work, by the inflationary economic market and by the need to quickly build a new work.
It will cost Quebecers $1.85 billion to build the new cable-stayed bridge and another $845 million to dismantle the current link. In 2018, however, the bill oscillated between “400 and 500 million”, recalled Jean-Pierre Turcotte, former prefect of the MRC of Île d’Orléans and current mayor of Sainte-Famille.
“The reality is that it’s a lot of money,” conceded Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault. “Yes, it’s expensive,” added his Infrastructure colleague, Jonatan Julien. The market tells us that this is the price of a project of this scale.”
There is no question, however, of backing down from this profligacy of millions or of imposing a toll to borrow the new work: if “2.7 billion is a figure that can make you jump”, concedes the Deputy Prime Minister, there is “security issues” for the islanders and the approximately 800,000 tourists who go to the apples and visit the island each year.
The obsolescence of the current bridge, inaugurated in 1935 according to the standards of the time, makes it necessary to commission a new structure. Governments have injected $38 million into repairing the current bridge since 2008 and they plan to spend an additional four million dollars over the coming years.
Despite this work, his condition remains stable, but precarious. The MTQ studied the possibility of refurbishing it: the cost of the site exceeded that of building a new one.
“This is a project that could have been taken on earlier by previous governments,” lamented the Minister of Transport on Tuesday at a press conference. It wasn’t done. »
Canceling the call for tenders would have delayed the project by at least three years, she continued, an unreasonable delay due to the expectations of the islanders and the condition of the current bridge.
“We cannot do without a new bridge on the Île d’Orléans”, a “symbol of identity” in Quebec, she continued. We had to move forward, it was the responsible and necessary decision to make. »
The oppositions do not hear it the same way. “After this morning’s announcement, I notice two things,” said Taschereau’s elected representative, Étienne Grandmont. A third highway link risks being a real financial pit, while the Quebec tramway is a real godsend. »
“Extremely complex”
The Samuel-de-Champlain Bridge, 3.4 km long, cost some $4.2 billion to build. However, it has 10 traffic lanes, two of which are reserved for light rail. The Île-aux-Tourtes bridge must come out of the ground for 2.3 billion dollars – but offer six lanes of traffic to the 81,000 motorists who must travel there daily.
The deconstruction of the old Champlain Bridge costs $234.6 million, or $610 million less than the estimated cost of dismantling the Île d’Orléans bridge.
Comparison with previous projects is difficult to hold up, according to Geneviève Guilbault, due to the environmental, heritage, geotechnical and construction constraints specific to the Orléans project.
The new bridge will cross a baret spawning ground and an area populated by several threatened or vulnerable species. The machinery and materials will be transported by sea to avoid the passage of 17,000 trucks on the current bridge, whose load capacity is reduced. The tide, sometimes 6 m high in the Île d’Orléans channel, and the ice that traps it in winter will also complicate the work.
At its northern end, the bridge will also rest on 58 piles of 3 meters in diameter which will have to be planted in a rock located more than 80 m deep – the height of Château Frontenac at its peak. This maneuver is necessary to meet current seismic standards – even if the Charlevoix-Kamouraska region has experienced only six earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 6 on the Richter scale since 1663.
“This is an extremely complex project in the history of the ministry,” said Jean-Nicolas Poulin, director of the major Île d’Orléans bridge project.
“The government is asking for a lot of security in terms of earthquakes,” said former prefect Jean-Pierre Turcotte. The bridge that is there has been on a floating foundation for 90 years, on mud, and it has never fallen. »
The next bridge must last for the next century. It will accommodate around 11,000 vehicles per day, on average, with summer peaks of 15,000 automobiles. Even if the possibility of developing a third track exists, the study of needs does not foresee an increase in ridership on the island in the fairly distant future,” specified the MTQ.
“This is insane!” denounced the Conservative Party of Quebec. It would be totally irresponsible to spend $2.7 billion just on the Island Bridge, without taking into account integration with the third link project. »
Opening in 2028
Two consortia submitted a bid at the end of November 2023, with a gap of $700 million between the two for the construction of the new cable-stayed point and the development of the interchange located at its northern end.
It was ultimately the Groupe Héritage Île d’Orléans consortium, made up of the Spanish company Dragados and the Quebec company EDC Construction, which obtained the contract.
The Minister of Transport did not want to elaborate on the significant difference between the two submissions, also carefully avoiding quantifying the most recent cost estimate carried out by her ministry in 2021. “For a question of transparency, we confirm that the final price is higher than the evaluations – but we will not give more details,” the Deputy Prime Minister fumbled.
Work began in April with geotechnical drilling where the new bridge must emerge from the water, i.e. 120 m to the west of the current bridge. Work will continue until 2029, with entry into service announced in 2028.
The dismantling of the current bridge will require three years of work and is due to be completed in 2033.