The central portion of the bridge deck carries the South Shore branch of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) automated light metro system.

[8] It is built to last 125 years with the usage of stainless steel and high-performance concrete,[9] and replaces the previous 57-year-old bridge,[10] which had become functionally obsolete, as well as its structure having been degraded by the repeated application of de-icing salt.

The northbound deck is wider to include a multi-use corridor for cyclists and pedestrians, requiring the cable-stay bridge to be asymmetric in the transverse direction as well as longitudinal.

[7] In September 2007, faced with rising costs for the maintenance of the Champlain Bridge (commissioned in 1962), then Canadian Minister of Transport Lawrence Cannon confirmed that his department was seriously considering the construction of a replacement structure.

In November 2014, then Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt announced that she was abandoning the idea of naming the new bridge in honour of Maurice Richard after consulting the family of the former ice hockey champion.

[14][15] In order to meet the 42-month construction deadline, many steel and concrete bridge elements were prefabricated, with a portion of the work taking place on temporary piers.

Three jetties were built: one on the east from Brossard, one on the west from Nuns' Island, and one from the centre, adjacent to a dike along the Saint Lawrence Seaway.