List of bridges to the Island of Montreal

[2] With the advent of the railroad, Montreal got a fixed link to the mainland; in 1854 railroad bridges were built in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, across both channels of the Ottawa River, linking Montreal Island to Ontario and the Vaudreuil-Soulanges peninsula through Perrot Island.

The crossing of the Saint Lawrence River has always proved problematic for engineers due to width, depth, currents, and ice cover.

[10][11] No new span was built for over 50 years, until a replacement Champlain Bridge was constructed at the cost of several billion dollars.

The construction of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s required extensive modifications for all spans that existed at the time.

The first railroad across the river was opened in 1876, and the Bordeaux Railway Bridge is the oldest fixed link to Laval that is still standing.

(Another bridge across Rivière des Mille Îles, which was part of the same line, collapsed in 1882 but was immediately rebuilt.

Montreal is on a boomerang-shaped island surrounded by three major rivers. To the northwest, lies another eye-shaped island, which is the site of Laval. The northern ring contains those mainland areas past Laval. To the east, south, and southwest on the mainland, is the southern ring.
Bridges are required to connect Montreal to the mainland (gray).