Out with the old and in with the new

Out with the old and in with the new

By Gordon Lambie
Sherbrooke’s old Grandes-Fourches Bridge is in its final days as demolition crews work to remove the crumbling structure from the local landscape. The bridge was closed to traffic permanently in April of 2021 for safety reasons, although load limits had been in place on the span for years prior.
Demolition work on the bridge was given the go-ahead in September and has been progressing gradually since that time, with teams at work trying to limit the degree to which debris falls into the waterway.
Just up the river from the demolition, teams are at work on the shoreline building the structures that will support the new bridge in the years to come. Earlier this month the city announced that the new structure will continue to be referred to as the Grandes-Fourches bridge after that choice won out over other options in an online poll.
The new bridge is not expected to open before the end of 2022, it is a part of a larger project by the city to redraw the path of Garndes-Fourches Boulevard North and convert the shores of the Saint-Francois river into a public park space.

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