Dismantling of old Champlain Bridge to begin later this year

The old Champlain Bridge's days are numbered.

The federal government has announced that the Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI), the Crown corporation that oversees the bridge, will be tasked with taking it apart.

The work is expected to start a few months after thenew bridge opens in June. It willtake three years to complete and cost $400 million, according to Infrastructure Canada.

"The bridge is over the St. Lawrence River, and it's a very rich ecosystem we want to protect," said JCCBI spokesperson Nathalie Lessard.

"That's why we're not going to demolish the bridge, but we are doing to deconstruct the bridge, so the portions of the bridge are going to be dismantled piece by piece."

Crews will try to recover and reuse some of the material from the old bridge, she said.

The existing Champlain Bridge opened in 1962. It links the island of Montreal to the South Shore.

It was originally supposed to open to traffic Dec. 1, but that date was pushed back to Dec. 21, thenpushed back again to June 30, 2019, at the latest.

About $50 million was spent on maintaining it in 2018, and another $10 million of work will be done to ensure its safety until thenew bridge opens.

The brand new, aptly named Samuel De Champlain Bridge carries a price tag of more than $4 billion and has an expected lifespan of 125 years.