History and current status of the FCMQ 345 bridge over Riviere Matawin (Taureau/Mastigouche)

[theSquashSH]

This is a tale in 2 parts about a pair of bridges across the Riviere Matawin, and a request for info, stories, and status updates on these bridges from the community!

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Part 1: Discovering Bailey Bridge across the Riviere Matawine no longer exists

Last year when going camping with some friends in Zec du Chapeau-de-Paille, I tried to take a shortcut through the Mastigouche reserve and cross the Riviere Matawine to meet them in the North (instead of going all the way to Mauricie or through St. Michel Des Saints). I aimed for this bridge and headed out from Montreal, planning to see my friends within ~3.5hr: https://www.google.com/maps/place/46°52'59.2"N+73°23'54.9"W/ (Google Maps routed me across this bridge as part of the route to our campsite).

After a few hours of amazing off-roading on gravel and double-track through Mastigouche to get there, I discovered the road just leads up to the water, where it abruptly ends with no sign of a bridge! There is a house on the lake by the bridge, and when I drove into their driveway by accident, a man came out. I asked him confusedly about how to get to the bridge, and he laughed and said it hasn't existed for almost a decade! Luckily I had brought extra gas, so I backtracked and went all the way west to St. Michel Des Saints to get around the river, and eventually met up with my friends almost 5 hours late.

When I got home I did some research, and found that the missing bridge was called Bailey Bridge and has an interesting history!
Apparently some vandals set fire to part of it in the late 90's, and it was impassable up until 2011 when it was demolished completely.
I updated both Google Maps and OpenStreetMaps to remove the bridge, so that other people don't make the same mistake as me!

Part 2: Discovering there is an unmapped replacement bridge to the west of the old Bailey Bridge (on FCMQ Trail #345)

It seemed extremely inconvenient to go almost 2-3 hours to the west or east to get across the Riviere Matawin, so I started doing some research to see if there are any other ways to cross the river from Mastigouche. After scrolling across the whole river, I found what looks like a bridge here on satellite imagery: https://www.google.com/maps/place/46°53'36.8"N+73°30'54.4"W/@46.8917317,-73.5068976,1316m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x4cc42d39f48bc7f5:0xca1e62c774d13da2!7e2!8m2!3d46.893541!4d-73.5151058

Some more research led me to a few Motoneige / Snowmobile forum threads about it:

• https://www.motoneigeauquebec.com/forum/showthread.php?123036-Nouveau-pont-sur-la-rivi%E8re-Mattawin-a-l-est-du-Barrage-Taureau
• https://www.motoneigeauquebec.com/forum/showthread.php?217712-Pont-de-la-rivi%E8re-Mattawin-ferm%E9-cette-saison-traverse-sur-barrage-Taureau
• https://www.motoneigeauquebec.com/forum/showthread.php?97279-St-Zenon-Riviere-Mattawin-photo-ride-report-20-f%E9vrier

Apparently it's part of the FCMQ 345 / 360 snowmobile trail, and was built in 2011 and is maintained by the local snowmobile club.

It even appears on some FCMQ quad trail maps as part of the Trans-Quebec 40 trail! I'm not sure if the quad clubs still have access however, as this is an old map.
https://www.routequad.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/lanau_carte_quad_2018.pdf

Some forum posts say it was closed for 2019-2020 snowmobiling season for maintenance, but I'm wondering if it's open now in 2021+.

I've added it to OpenStreetMaps here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/940177964#map=19/46.89346/-73.51481 but none of the surrounding FCMQ and other trails are on OpenStreetMap, so it's just a floating bridge with no roads leading to it for now  I will see if I can get the FCMQ trails as a GPX and add them to the map as well so that this bridge becomes routable for directions. I think it's important to get it added, as this bridge is a big distance shortcut for anyone who needs to cross the Matawine (even potentially life-saving if you're stranded on the wrong side + low on gas and need to reach a nearby destination before it gets cold and dark).

So here are my questions for you all:

• does anyone know if this 345 bridge has a name?
• is the 2019-2020 maintenance finished, and is the bridge open as of 2021?
• is the bridge normally closed during summer or is it normally open year-round?
• what club owns / maintains this bridge? (Club Royaume de la Motoneige maybe?) does anyone know someone in those clubs who has more info?
• there are photos of a DRZ-400 crossing the bridge, but I'm not sure if motos are officially allowed. Can anyone confirm that FQMHR is allowed/not allowed on it?
• does anyone have more recent photos / GPX tracks around or across this bridge?

I'm going to ride up there myself this weekend if I can, and I'll post back with whatever answers I get!

[NewBee61]

Looks like there's a gate/fence on each side ... could be a private bridge for a snowmobile club or a logging company. Just make sure you have enough gas to turn around in case and let us know.

[theSquashSH]

I went to the bridge yesterday (2021-05-30). It turns out it's officially "closed" due to damage, but it's accessible and people have dismantled the barriers put up so you can still ride across it (at your own peril).

It's clearly very damaged, I bet they'll tear it down or fix it at some point. The main steel beams are heavily warped, and the deck is tilted to one side. I wouldn't drive anything heavier than a single motorbike over it!

I wonder how it got so warped, maybe extreme snow accumulation + too many snowmobiles trying to cross at once?

The trail leading up to it is relatively clear but technically unmaintained right now, so you may have to cross some fallen logs or other debris. It may be wise to bring a saw if you're not comfortable jumping ~5-6in diameter logs

 

Édité 31 Mai 2021 par theSquashSH