Madeleine Parent Bridge, Road bridge in Beauharnois, Canada
The Madeleine Parent Bridge is a road bridge at Beauharnois, Quebec, made of two identical twin box-girder spans set a few metres apart, each carrying three lanes of Autoroute 30 over the Beauharnois Canal and the St. Lawrence Seaway. The extra lane on each span lets slow heavy vehicles climb the long grade without blocking traffic.
Construction ran from 2009 to late 2012, in time for the bridge's opening to traffic. In April 2013 the City of Beauharnois proposed naming it Pont Charles-de-Beauharnois, after the pioneer who gave the city its name, but the proposal was rejected. Following a citizens' petition backed by community groups, women's centres, unions and the Intersyndicale des femmes, the Commission de toponymie du Québec adopted the name Madeleine-Parent on 5 December 2013.
The bridge carries the name of Madeleine Parent, a Canadian labor activist who fought for workers' rights. This official designation was given in 2013 by the Quebec Toponymy Commission.
The bridge carries Autoroute 30 over the Beauharnois Canal and the St. Lawrence Seaway. It has six lanes, three per deck, while the rest of the autoroute has four; the extra lane lets slower heavy vehicles climb the long grade without blocking traffic. There is no pedestrian or cycle path, so it is crossed by motor vehicle only.
The bridge is owned by Nouvelle Autoroute 30 s.e.n.c., a private company operating it under a public-private partnership with the Quebec government, as with the rest of Autoroute 30 between La Prairie and Vaudreuil-Dorion. Its two separate box-girder decks stand a few metres apart.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,685 contributors worldwide.