Quebec City is old. She was important as a seaport, but then the railroad was invented. The deep and wide St. Laurence cut her off from the train routes, modern Canada's bloodstream. Enter the engineers.
Bridge plans started in the 1850’s. The first was up by 1904, but just as it was being finished someone found a bad calculation and sent a letter to the engineer in charge - by snail mail. An urgent telegram came back too late. The whole thing fell into the St. Laurence along with 96 men.
They didn’t give up. After due investigation, a second bridge was being finished in 1916, and 100,000 people came to see the last section being lifted into place. Opps! It is still at the bottom of the river with another 13 souls.
The present 1917 bridge at 1800 feet, is the longest of its kind - and listed as one of the engineering wonders of the world. It allows us to take a bike ride literally “to die for”.Quebec now has her trains and we have a great peddle up one side of the St Larry, over the bridge and down the other - with a ferry back over to where we started. Their vast system of bike paths is well engineered too - landscaped. well signed, and sprinkled with big pieces of public art. Bike cops and repair patrols are out - and the free map shows a couple of micro-breweries. Bless those engineers!
- Cycle Stew
