The Jacques Cartier Bridge is a five-lane cantilever bridge about 2 1/6 miles (3.4 km) in length, spanning the St. Lawrence River between the cities of Montreal and Longueuil. Designers were Monsarrat and Pratley.
The cantilever section of the bridge measures 1,937 feet (590.4 m) and extends from pier 23 to pier 26. It is divided into three parts: two anchor arms located between two cantilever arms and the suspended span. The anchor arms are each 420 feet (128 m) long and are located between piers 23 and 24 on the south side and between piers 25 and 26 on the north side.
The cantilever arms are each 354 feet, 5 inches (108 m) long and are located on either side of the suspended span, which measures 378 feet, 6 inches (115.4 m).
The initial cost of building the bridge was approximately $20,000,000, including expropriation expenses. If the approach roads are included, the cost was $23,000,000.
1st Awarded Contract – South Shore Piers (May 22, 1925)
The first contract, in the amount of $936,000, was awarded on May 22, 1925 to Quinlan, Robertson and Janin Limited for the piers on the South Shore.
2nd Awarded Contract – Piers and North Approaches (Summer 1925)
In the late summer of 1925, Dufresne Construction Co. Limited obtained a $125,000 contract for the piers and approaches on the north part of the bridge.
Superstructure Erection Contract (October 25, 1925)
The contract to erect the steel superstructure, worth $6,954,000, was awarded to the lowest bidder, Dominion Bridge Company Limited, on October 25, 1925.
In 1958 and 1959, the deck between piers 9 and 10 had to be jacked up from its original 40 to 120 feet (12.2 m to 36.5 m) above the water for ships to pass through the St. Lawrence Seaway, which was under construction at the time. This work took 16 months and cost $6,698,750.
The contract was awarded to the Dominion Bridge Company Limited, under the supervision of consulting engineer Dr. P.L. Pratley. Thirty jacks with a capacity of 362.87 to 544.3 tons were used to raise this section of the bridge. The work was carried out without disrupting traffic on the bridge thanks to the installation of two temporary Bailey bridges.