2011: The Reopening of a Longtime Covered Bridge in Quebec

September 26, 2011

In the regional county municipality of Arthabaska in Canada’s province of Quebec, the Joseph-Édouard-Perrault Bridge in the municipality of Warwick was reopened following extensive renovations. This wooden covered bridge crosses the Rivière des Pins (River of the Pines), which is a tributary of the Nicolet River.

The Joseph-Édouard-Perrault Bridge was built in 1908. This structure owes its current name to a longtime public official in this part of Quebec. Joseph-Édouard-Perrault (1874-1948) represented the Arthabaska provincial electoral district in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec (the present-day National Assembly of Quebec) between 1919 and 1936. He also served in the cabinet of the Government of Quebec in various positions, including minister of highways from1929 to 1936.

The Joseph-Édouard-Perrault Bridge was a crossing for automobiles until 1957.This 99-foot (30.2-meter)-long structure is now used instead by both bicyclists and pedestrians and also — during the winter — for snowmobile traffic. The bridge was added to the Canadian Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Photo Credit: UncivilFire (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)

For more information on the Joseph-Édouard-Perrault Bridge, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph-%C3%89douard_Perrault_Bridge