Jacques Bizard Bridge is a bridge that crosses the

Rivière des Prairies The Rivière des Prairies (; ), called the Back River in English, is a delta channel of the Ottawa River in southwestern Quebec, Canada. The Kanien'kehá:ka called it ''Skowanoti'', meaning "River behind the island". The river separates the citi ...

and connects L'Île Bizard to

Montreal Island The Island of Montreal (french: Île de Montréal) is a large island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, that is the site of a number of municipalities including most of the city of Montreal and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main ...

. Except for a

cable ferry A cable ferry (including the terms chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...

that connects Île Bizard with

Laval-sur-le-Lac Laval-sur-le-Lac is a small sector on the western part of Laval and was a separate city until the municipal mergers on August 6, 1965. This community contains North America's oldest French speaking private golf club, Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac, estab ...

, it is the only access to

Île Bizard Île Bizard is an island near the Island of Montreal in the Hochelaga Archipelago region. History Historically named Île Bonaventure, by 1723 it had come to be named Île Bizard, after Jacques Bizard, to whom it was conceded as a fief in 1678, ...

, which had a population of 13,861 at the 2001 census. It carries three lanes of Jacques Bizard Boulevard, including one

reversible lane A reversible lane (British English: tidal flow) is a lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, by having overhead traffic lights and li ...

. As of 2008, it is being widened to accommodate a bicycle path. The ferry, which crosses the north branch of the Rivière des Prairies, operates only

seasonal A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

ly between April and November. The bridge was named after

Jacques Bizard Jacques Bizard (1642 – December 5, 1692) was seigneur of île Bonaventure, later renamed île-Bizard. Born in Benaix, Neuchâtel to a Calvinist pastor, Bizard served in the Venetian army where he met Louis de Buade, better known as Comte de Fro ...

, who was seigneur of Île Bonaventure, which was later renamed after him as well. The current span was built in 1966 and replaced an old bridge that was built in 1893.

See also