photo par Gautier Poupeau, avec modification via Flickr
During the elections of 1926, the deputy of Charlevoix and future minister in the Taschereau government, Mr. Edgar Rochette of La Malbaie, was already demanding the construction of a bridge over the Saguenay River. At that time, there were barely 10 000 people living on the North Shore east of the Saguenay. Numerous studies at the request of the Ministry of Transport have followed since then. The governments have preferred to delay the inevitable construction by enlarging the ferry boats and by improving the wharves. This project made the news at different times: at the beginning of the sixties as well as during the seventies; in the middle of the last decade this file regained strength and numerous actions supporting the construction were carried out by people in the region.
We present three texts, recounting in their own way, the history of crossing the Saguenay
- The first text, dated 1927, was written by the priest of St. Firmin parish in Baie St. Catherine. He reports on the crossings at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century (french only). labbe_simard_1927 (204Kb)
- The second text is dated 1959 and refers to previous years. 1959 was the year when the continuation of highway 138 to Sept-Îles was supposed to be completed (french only). traverse_1959 (580Kb)
- Finally, the last text is dated 1980 when the most recent ferries were inaugurated. It is an interesting retrospective of the history of crossing the Saguenay (french only). traverse_1980 (610Kb)
Today, the congestion, the risks to road safety and the near saturation of the ferry boat service are being studied within the framework of an impact study ordered by the Quebec Transport Ministry and being done by the consortium SNC Lavalin-Génivar. A bridge project has already been proposed by the consortium Génivar Naturam who had the mandate in 1995 to produce an opportunity study on the question of the Saguenay ferry at Tadoussac. The engineering firm Buckland and Taylor had the mandate to establish the main lines of the necessary infrastructure. This firm was kept as inspector for the construction work on the Confederation Bridge in Prince Edward Island by the Federal Government. So here is the situation in the two most recent bridge projects.