Students Put Their Mark on Construction of the New Champlain Bridge

MONTRÉAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - March 11, 2016) - Infrastructure Canada

Editor's Note: There are two photos associated with this press release.

MP Pablo Rodriguez, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, joined today with elementary students from Verdun, to officially introduce "Thor la fourmi" (Thor the Ant) as the newest member of the building crew for the new Champlain Bridge. Like an ant, Thor is capable of carrying many times its own weight. In this case, the newly dubbed transporter will move the bridge's 650 tonne concrete footings being fabricated on the west jetty near L'Île-des-Soeurs.

The name was proposed by three students, Alex L'Écuyer (age 11), Joey Lapierre (age 10) and Arthémy Vandalovski (age 11) as part of a naming contest opened to participants of Toujours ensemble, a non-profit organization that provides academic, financial and social support to youth in the Montréal borough of Verdun.

The new Champlain Bridge corridor project is one of the largest infrastructure projects in North America. The corridor-wide project not only includes a new Champlain bridge, but a new île des Soeurs Bridge and reconstruction and widening of the federal portion of Autoroute 15. The project is a public private partnership between the Government of Canada and Signature on the St. Lawrence Group.

Quotes

"It was a pleasure to meet the bright young minds behind "Thor la fourmi", truly a fitting name for this impressive machine which will do much of the heavy lifting in the construction of the new bridge. I hope they are as excited as me about seeing Thor in action as the new Champlain bridge starts to takes shape in Montreal's skyline in the coming months.

- Pablo Rodriguez, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities and Member of Parliament for Honoré-Mercer.

"I am so pleased that our youth had this opportunity to learn about and contribute to this major infrastructure project right here in our community. The students were very enthusiastic about the contest with more than 100 possibilities proposed for the newly named Thor la Fourmi".

- Benita Ba, Director General, Toujours ensemble

Additional Links

- Learn more about the Government of Canada's role in the New Champlain Bridge Corridor Project.

- Follow progress of the project at New Champlain Bridge on Signature on the St. Lawrence's website.

Follow us on Twitter.

The photos associated with this press release are available at the following address:

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/transport_800.jpg

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/children_800.jpg