Preliminary Design of the New Bridge for the St Lawrence River

The New Bridge for the St. Lawrence Corridor Project is a 3 billion dollar urban highway project which is being procured through public private partnership. The centrepiece of the project is a 3km crossing of the St Lawrence River which forms a vital link between the city of Montreal and the Brossard shore. The design includes a cable-stayed main span over the St Lawrence Seaway with elevated approaches on either si de. The approach bridge substructure is a unique "W-pier" supporting three separate box girders. The design has been developed through a number of stages to arrive at a solution which is architecturally elegant as weil as being durable and buildable. This paper will describe the preliminary design of the bridge, explaining the evolution of the design in different stages and demonstrating how technical requirements and architectural vision were combined in the design.