Foreword H. A. MANN, Chairmen, National Harbours Board To a City on an island, a bridge is a vital trafic artery. Montreal Ho foekesl and the construction of Champlain Bride bas pro- vided an additional efficient link with the developing communities bn the South Shore of the St. Lawrence River, with the Eastern Townships of Quobecand wih the bighvay network of the United tates. Champlain Bridge spans the St. Lawrence River, the historic route of the explorers and fur traders. Tt also crosses the St. Lawrence Seaway, the new waterway, which connects Montreal ‘with the vast Great Lakes system of this Continent. It is a bridge of unusual design and one which called for the use of unique construction methods, ‘AS Chairman of the National Harbours Board, the Agen ponsible for the planning, construction and operation of Cham- plain Bridge, I take a measure of pride in the finished structure, My colleagues and 1 commend the efforts of the Board's Chief Engineer, Mr. L. R. Stratton; the Port Manager, Montreal Harbour, ‘Mr. Guy Beaudet, and bis staff; the Consulting Engineer, Mr. HLH. L- Pratley and bis Associates, Lalonde and Valois. We also ‘pay tribute to the many contractors and their work forces for the {oil skill and devotion to duty which overcame countless obstacles fand culminated in the construction of this bridge which stands fas a monument to their labour. I feel tbat it is appropriate that the tremendous effort which went into the construction of Cham- plain Bridge should be commemorated in tangible form. In the Production of this fine volume, "The Champlain Bridge”, Porcu- pine Publications Limited bas performed this task admirably. UsoA general description ‘The Champlain Bridge in Montreal, which opened to traffic on June 28, 1962, is a $35,000,000 toll bridge providing a sixlane 60 m.p.h. highway crossing of the St, Lawrence River and the Seaway between Montreal and the South Shore. At the date of opening the bridge connected to Wellington Street on the Montreal side and to the existing Highways No. 3 and No, 9B on the South Shore. However, work is proceeding on two additional controlled access approach roadways on the Montreal side, also a South Shore Expressway, an Eastern Townships Expressway, and a widened High- ‘way No. 9B, all three of which will link up with the South Shore approaches to the bridge as shown on diagram 1. Upon the completion of these projects the ‘bridge willfully realize its purpose to relieve the heavily ‘congested Jacques Cartier and Victoria Bridges and provide a modern high-speed connection between Montreal and the South Shore free of the delays often experienced at peak travelling hours on the older bridges. In 1955 the Canadian Government began studies for a bridge to be built through the Department of Trans- port with the National Harbours Board acting 2s ‘by ROGER DORTON agents. The National Harbours Board had previously built the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal, and at this time owned and operated this bridge. The National Harbours Board appointed Dr. P. L. Pratley of Mont- real as Consulting Engineer for the design and super- vision of construction of the mew bridge, and in 1958, upon the death of his father, Mr. H. H. L. Pratley was appointed to continue and complete the work. The Consulting Engineer subsequently engaged as Associ- ates, Mr. P. Ewart as Traffic Consultant, and Lalonde ‘and Valois for work on the Montreal approaches and for supervision of concrete construction. National Harbours Board staff were engaged in electrical work and on the administration building. The site had been established to cross from Montreal to the South Shore via St. Paul Island, or Nuns’ Island, as this island close to Verdun is more commonly known, hence the proposed crossing was initially known as Nuns’ Island Bridge. The Government gave the official name of Champlain Bridge in 1958, after Sarsuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec. ‘A Technical Committee was set up by the National Harbours Board on which the various municipalityand government departments concerned with the bridge were represented. These included the Provincial Roads Department, the St, Lawrence Seaway Authority, Hydro-Quebec, the cities of Montreal and Verdun, and the South Shore communities of LaPrairie, Pre- ville, and Brossard. The Committee served as both a source of information as to present and future require- ments of the bridge and future development plans for the area, as well as a means of keeping the interested organizations informed as to progress on the bridge and seeking their opinions and approval on layouts. In 1956 borings were taken in the river, the proposed bridge line was established in the field, preliminary layouts were studied and discussed and land expropriae tion procedures were started. The proposed location, line, profiles and clearances were approved in 1957 enabling final designs and drawings to proceed. Pre- liminary studies were based on four traffic lanes with provision for future widening to six lanes, However, traffic and cost studies and future development plans for the area led to the immediate adoption of the full sit-lane scheme in 1958. The basic bridge width pro- vides two 37 ft. roadways in each direction separated by @ concrete median divider. The bridge exceeds four miles in length overall and for convenience in reference and for calling tenders, the bridge was split into eight sections, The adopted bridge centreline, while running from Montreal to the so-called South Shore, actually lies close to a West- East line. Starting from Montreal, on the left side of diagram 2, the bridge sections are as follows Section 1. Montreal approaches west of Wellington Street Section 2. Approaches between Wellington Street and the west bank of the St. Lawrence River. Section 3. Crossing of secondary river channel to Nuns" Island Section 4, Roadway and plaza on Nuns’ Island Section 5. Main river crossing between Nuns’ Island and the Seaway Section 6. Crossing of the Seaway Section 7. East approach structure Section 8. Approach roadways on the South Shore, Jn Section 1 the four-lane approaches run on open sound beside the Canadian National Railway track. An interchange at Atwater Avenue will provide access to the Atwater Tunnel and hence to the downtown area of the city of Montreal, as well as to La Vérendrye Boulevard for the west end of the city. Section 1 was not completed for the 1962 opening and is at present under construction, A further spproach roadway in Section 1 is being planned jointly by the National Harbours Board and the City of Montreal to serve the downtown area more directly. This four-lane approach will be located north of the main bridge centreline and will ink St, James Street and St. Antoine Street directly to Section 2 of the bridge. In Section 2 the approach runs on embankment fill over the old city dump, with two-lane roadways and overpasses Providing access to Wellington Street in Verdua. ‘The bridge in Section 3 crosses the river at low level, and in Section 4 cuts across the north end of Nuns! Island on a low embankment. The plaza on the island widens out to nine lanes in each direction at the auto- matic toll collection booths. The administration build- ing is located in the centre of the plaza at the toll booths, from which National Harbours Board staff control the bridge operation. The island was bought by Quebec Homes and Mortgage Corporation from the religious order whose buildings and farm occupied the island, for which @ residential community of some 35,000 Persons is now planed as part of Verdun, The Cham- Plain Bridge was designed considering this future island development, and provision was made for access roads from the bridge at the west side of the island. A sidewalk is provided on the bridge between Verdun and Nuns’ Island, this being the only section where pedestrians are allowed. The island is subject to extensive flooding in the winter and will require diking before being developed for housing, The plaza embankment was designed high enough to clear thefloodwaters before the island is diked, but at the same time not obstruct the view from the island when it is fully developed. From the island the bridge climbs up a 0.85% grade for the long crossing of LaPrairie Basin, Section 5, bringing the bridge to a sufficient height in Section 6 to provide the required 120 ft. vertical clearance over the Seaway Channel which rans close to the east bank of the river, The 120 ft. clearance is maintained to the ‘underside of the steel main span for the full 300 ft ‘width of the Seaway Channel. Section 7 comes down to the South Shore on a 3% grade, crossing Highway No. 3 and joining the Section 8 embankment and roadways. ‘Two-lane turn off roadways in Section 8 join the bridge to Highway No. 3 to serve the expanding residential area in Brossard. Highway No. 3 is the site of a pro- posed sixlane South Shore Expressway, and when this is constructed by the Province a full interchange will be built for the bridge approaches. The main bridge roadway has been extended beyond Section 8 by the Provincial Roads Department to link up with an inter- chaage at Highway No. 9B, as shown on diagram 1 ‘Highway No. 9B leading to the United States is to be ‘widened to six lanes by the Province, which is also planning an Eastern Townships Expressway to join in at this Highway No. 9B interchange. When all these South Shore roadway schemes are completed traffic from the United States, the Eastern Townships, and local traffic will all have direct high-speed access to the Champlain Bridge. ‘The first of the many contracts for construction of the bridge was let in 1957. Detailed descriptions by some contractors of their particular sections of the work appear in subsequent chapters. The main embank- ment fill in Section 2 was placed early, under the first contract, so that settlement of the poor dump ‘material on which it was placed would have a chance to ocour before the paving had to be done. Excava- tion for the Seaway Channel was being carried out in 1957 and advantage was taken of the availability cof good fill material from this excavation by letting a contract for the main embankment fill in Section 8 at this time, The first structural contract was also let in 1957 for the construction of the four main span piers, Section 6, diagram 5. This contract was awarded in advance so that the two piers inside the Seaway dike could be constructed in the dry, before the Seaway channel was flooded. All four piers ‘were founded on the Utica shale bedrock which ex- tends the full width of the river. The shale has little depth of overburden in Sections 5 and 6 but is over- Jain with dense glacial till in Sections 3 and 7. Early in 1958 a temporary causeway between Verdun ‘and Nuns’ Island was constructed crossing Section 3 close to the bridge centreline. This causeway was required to provide access to Nuns’ Island for construc- tion of Sections 4 and 5, and was also used for access during the construction of the piers in Section 3. The causeway was of rock fill construction, with pipe culverts placed in it to permit the required flow of water to take place in the secondary channel of the river. When Section 3 was ready for traffic the cause- ‘way Was removed and the rock fill reused as permanent fill material on other parts of the job. In the summer of 1958 work started on the eleven piers and two abutments for the 1,536 ft. river crossing of Section 3. Excavation for the piers was carried out inside earth fill cofferdams connecting to the temporary causeway. All the substructure was founded on the shale bedrock which required removal of about 10 ft. of the dense glacial till overburden at most piers. ‘The major structural contracts were all let in the summer of 1959. The largest single contract on the project was for the construction of piers and superstructure for 8,096 ft. of bridge in Sections 5 and 7A awarded in June for a price of $8,319,000. The low bid featured forty-six prestressed concrete spans of approximately 176 ft. each supported on “T”-shaped piers founded on the shale bedrock, diagram 4, This contract repre- sented the largest application of prestressed concretein the country both in individual span length and quantity of work, and is described in detail and fully illustrated in the next chapter. The successful bid was not only the lowest of twenty-eight received in pre- stressed concrete, steel and reinforced concrete, but also required the shortest time for completion, and came at a time when prestressed concrete was sti relatively new construction method in Canada. Each span consists of seven precast beams 10 ft. deep at 12 ft. 234 in. centres with two intermediate diaphragms and a transversely stressed slab. The beams were pre- cast on Nuns’ Island for Section 5,,transported on tracks and erected with a launching truss. The stressing of the beams, diaphragms and deck was performed with twelve-wire Freyssinet cables, The circular pier footings were poured in the dry inside sheet pile cofferdams and slipforms were used for the shaft construction. ‘The pier capping beams were poured in formwork supported. by steel trusses sitting on the tops of the pier shafts, ‘The work was scheduled so that all operations were performed simultaneously with construction of foot- ings, shafts, pier caps, beam placing, slab pouring and transverse stressing all proceeding with an interval of a few spans between each. At the peak period the contractor was working at the rate of two completed spans per week. Work progressed cast from Nuns’ Island toward Section 6, and when this was completed the beam casting yard and the launching truss were transferred to the South Shore and work proceeded from Highway No. 3 west toward Section 6. The con- tract was completed just over two years after the award, even though work had to shut down during the winter months. ‘The superstructure contract for Section 3 was awarded in July 1959 for a prestressed concrete scheme of twelve spans of 128 ft. each for a sum of $1,044,000. These beams were also precast on Nuns’ Island and erected with a launching truss advancing in a westerly direction from the island. The beams are 7 ft. 2 in. deep placed at 8 ft, 94 in, centres, and beams and diaphragms were stressed with twelvewire Freyssinet cables. The deck consists of a 63 in. thick reinforced concrete slab placed on top of the beams and acting compositely with them, “The contract for the Section 6 steel superstructure and reinforced concrete roadway slab was awarded in ‘October 1959 for a sum of $5,907,000. This contract was for the main three-span cantilever unit crossing the Seaway Channel and four 252 ft. simple truss flanking spans, giving a total length of just over 2,500 ft. and a ‘weight of stesl of approximately 11,000 tons. The 282 ft. spans are deck trusses with four trusses spaced fat 23 ft. 4 in, centres in each span. The cantilever unit, diagram 5, is of through truss design to pro- vide minimum depth of construction below road level over the Seaway, and consists of three trusses spaced at 43 ft. 6 in. centres. The anchor arms have 385 ft. 6 in, span and the central clear span of 706 ft. 9 in. is made up of two cantilever arms of 160 ft 74 i ‘and a suspended span of 385 ft. 6 in. The roadway follows a parabolic vertical curve for the length of the suspended span. The trusses are fixed at the two main piers and the 9 in. temperature movement for the central span is all taken up at a finger-type expansion joint at the east end of the suspended span, The maximum truss depth of 104 ft. occurs over the main piers, reducing to 35 ft atthe ends of the suspended span. The truss chords have depths of up to 41 in. with a maximum cross- sectional area of 221 sq. in. and a maximum design load of 2,125 tons. Extensive use was made of high strength low alloy steel in the more heavily loaded truss members, The three-truss layout for the main span is an unusual one, but showed considerable in bracing and floor beam stecl compared to a more usual two-truss layout for which these members would hhave had to span over 80 ft. The outside trusses were designed for the maximum stresses in the usual manner but it was found that deformation considerations governed the design of the centre truss. The centre truss was proportioned so that corresponding panelpoints on all three trusses would have the same defiec- tion both during erection and under final dead load. ‘The Seaway was open to shipping before erection of the Section 6 superstructure started in July 1960. As false~ work and flosting equipment were not permitted in the Seaway Channel for erection purposes, the central span was erected by cantilevering out from the main piers on each side and closing the steel in the centre, using a top chord travelling crane to place the steel. ‘The anchor arms, which are outside the Seaway Channel, ‘were erected using falsework bents at three positions. ‘The travelling crane, of 35-ton capacity, had an adjust- able working platform that could be kept Jevel as the crane travelled along the chords of changing slope. ‘The three-truss scheme required a constant check on truss alignments and relative deflections during erection, and adjustments were made a5 required. The two halves of the main span were closed using equipment located at the ends of the cantilever arms, consisting of band-operated wedges to move the bottom chords and toggle mechanisms operated by bydraulic jacks for the top chords. Operation of the wedges and toggles enabled the closure panel points to be adjusted both horizontally and vertically from both sides. The travel- fing cranes were backed off the suspended span to reduce the load on the adjusting equipment and the span was closed and swung on September 25, 1961. Placing of the 634 in. thick reinforced concrete road- ‘way slab did not commence until all the steel was erected in the main span and was completed in June 1962. A contract for the substructure and prestressed concrete superstructure for a further four spans in Section 7 cast of Highway No, 3 was awarded in June 1960. These spans were not included in the earlier Sections 5 and 7A contract as the location of the proposed Highway No. 3 development was not established at this time. Alternative prestressing methods were allowed in bidding on the 172 ft. beam spans, and the contractor elected to use “GTM” stranded cables instead of the Freyssinet parallel wire cables shown on the tender drawings. Of six contracts awarded for prestressed concrete beams to date on Champlain Bridge this is the only contract where Freyssinet cables were not used. ‘These spans, like those of Section 3, $ and 7A, were designed on a grid analysis allowing for the actual oad distribution through the diaphragms instead of applying the factors found in standard specifications which would have given a less economic design, There are five intermediate diaphragms and a slab designed by the ultimate load theory, all transversely stressed. ‘The spans are at relatively Jow level above the ground and the beams were poured in steel forms supported on tubular steel scaffolding. In Section 2, a four-span prestressed concrete overpass, 1 three-span prestressed concrete overpass, and two reinforced concrete “W”-leg overpasses, completed the ‘bridge structures required for the 1962 opening. All four of these structures are supported on steel Hcpiles driven through variable dump material to bedrock. The pre- stressed beams were precast and placed on bearing pads ‘on the piers. Natural rubber bearing pads were used om the four-span overpass and on, the three-span overpass, ‘whereas laminated neoprene bearing pads were used throughout Sections 3, 5 and 7. One of the “V"-leg. overpasses was poured on a ground slab then excavated after completion of the frame structure. ‘The remaining contracts for roadways, lighting, build~ ings, toll booths and signs were let in 1961 and 1962. Separate road contracts were let for work in Sections 2, 4 and 8, and these contracts included asphalting ‘the concrete deck of the structures in Section 3, 5 and 7 respectively. The decks of the prestressed concrete spans in Sections $ and 7 were waterproofed prior to asphalting to give added protection, as the deck forms fan integral part of the main load carrying beams and thus cannot be replaced if damaged. As an added safeguard against structural damage, salt, and other chemicals will not be used to melt snow on the bridge. The permanent roadways on fill have 2 9 in. thick reinforced concrete slab covered with an asphalt