After the announcement about the Île aux Tourtes Bridge bridge closing due to excessive decline, a reader suggested that an option would be to put barges connected.
Photo: Île aux Tourtes Bridge closes after 55 years after repair team finds it unsafe for commuters.
This solution has been done before in various parts of the world, usually under the supervision of the army in emergencies.
Living on an island has draw backs. Exits are one of them. A bridge goes down, traffic comes to a halt, tempers flare, politicians scramble.
Our Île aux Tourtes Bridge was born in 1965. It spans the Lake of Two Mountains between Senneville, and Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, Canada. It carries 6 lanes of Autoroute 40 and is the main link between Montreal and the province of Ontario. It is estimated that 90,000 people use this bridge daily.
Vaudreuil-Dorion stands out for its rapid growth, ranking 6th in Quebec (32nd in Canada) and for the arrival of newcomers, ranked 9th in Quebec (99th in Canada). We need a better bridge to handle the to and froms to Montreal.
After a quick and easy google search, I found a company called Algonquin Bridge that can produce an emergency bridge, sadly the Île aux Tourtes Bridge bridge is 2000 m and Algonquin replacement bridges can only cover 81 m. They can rent or sell an emergency bridge anywhere in Canada we just need a longer version perhaps?
"In the last decade, increasingly severe weather events with bridge failures and bridge washouts have been on the rise. When faced with an emergency bridge replacement, time is of the essence. You need a proven partner you can rely on," stated the Algonquin bridge website.
Let's face it. West Islanders are in a pickle and need a replacement bridge as soon as possible.
The Île aux Tourtes Bridge was inaugurated in 1965.
