Blog post | Montreal as an Island

Written by Victoria C. Slonosky

The spring ice break up season was always a tricky time for Montrealers. These days, unless we live off-island, we tend not to think too much about the practical geographical fact of the city Montreal as an island in the St Lawrence River. When the dire condition of the old Champlain bridge was discovered and plans for the new bridge were being drawn up, there was a fair amount of grumbling , “I never leave the island; why should my taxes pay for all those suburbanites coming into the city?” The Champlain bridge is a vital piece of Canadian infrastructure, linking the Atlantic provinces, Eastern Canada, and the US to Central Canada. It is the most heavily travelled bridge in the country. As Montreal isan island, it has always needed goods and supplies brought in across the river. Electricity too: for those who remember the 1998 ice storm, they might also remember that, at one point, only one of the power lines supplying the city across the water was still functioning.

(Read more on The Urbanologist)