The International Road Federation (IRF Global*), gave this bridge the Achievement Award in the Quality Management category.
This prize, one of the most prestigious attributed in the roads sector, rewards the excellence of the bridge’s design, and especially the implementation of a quality management system throughout the design and construction phases.
The prize was given to the Design Joint Venture of engineering firms who designed the bridge: SNC-Lavalin, T.Y. Lin International and SYSTRA International Bridge Technologies.
The reward for a bridge designed to last
Built to last 125 years, the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge was designed for multimodality with four road lanes, two dedicated to buses and bicycles, but also a dedicated rail track and pedestrian pathways.
This longevity is guaranteed thanks to the technical solutions employed to withstand all weather conditions:
- high performance concrete was used to resist salt, abrasions, and temperature variations
- stainless steel frame
- the asphalt is 90mm thick, 30mm thicker than the usual
This new award is in addition to the previous ones obtained for this bridge:
- The Honor Award presented by the California branch of ACEC, the American Council of Engineering Companies
- The Honor Award from IABSE, the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering
- The International Transportation Structure Award from the American Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI)
- The Schreyer Award, presented at the Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards
Samuel-De Champlain: a record-breaking project
Designed, built and completed in just 48 months, thanks to the massive use of high-performance steel and concrete elements, the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge welcomes some 50 million cars, buses and trucks every year, making it one of the busiest bridges in North America, almost three years after its inauguration.
It is one of the widest bridges in the world, with a total deck length of 50 metres, linking Montreal to Brossard, crossing the St. Lawrence River over a length of 3.4km. The latest news is the arrival of the metro on its central deck arrivée du métro sur son tablier central: the automatic REM du Sud line links will link Brossard to Montreal’s Central Station by crossing the bridge in spring 2023.
*IRF Global: an NGO founded in 1948 in Washington with the aim of promoting the development of road networks.