James Bay Access Road

“Everyone who took part in the experience will always remember it. It was hard, but it made us stronger. We pushed our limits. For many of us, our prior knowledge of life in such a dense, wild forest was minimal at best.”

Jean-Claude Therrien, Vice President, Transportation Infrastructure Engineering

In the spring 1971, Quebec launched an ambitious mega-project, the likes of which had never been seen before in the province: harnessing the hydroelectric potential of the James Bay by building an enormous complex housing eight hydropower stations. Located in northern Quebec, the project would require the construction of several hundred kilometres of road over difficult terrain in order to carry the equipment and material required for this ambitious undertaking. It was an enormous challenge, but the engineers at Dessau rose to the occasion.

During the summer of the same year, Dessau engineers flew in on float plans and established project headquarters in Matagami. Everything had to be done, from conducting soil studies and verifying the route to organizing logistics and cutting through the forest to clear a space for this strategic road that would enable the hydroelectric development of the James Bay.

By winter 1971, as the road was being built, materials, heavy machinery and mobile homes were brought in. To respect the planned route, Dessau professionals had to build ice bridges across various bodies of water. The technique involved placing logs across the frozen river, spraying the logs with water and repeating the process in layers. It was essential that all the supplies be on site before the thaw of these ice bridges, which would be the precursors to the 11 major bridges on the James Bay Access Road today.

Running from the City of Matagami to the mouth of the La Grande River, the access road is 450 miles (725 km) long, 44 feet (13 m) wide and can support loads of up to 500 tonnes. Dessau provided the design and construction supervision for the road, which was completed in just 450 days. This unprecedented engineering feat allowed the project to be delivered a full year ahead of schedule. In addition to the construction of the road, Dessau also participated in the construction of the Matagami and La Grande airports and 11 temporary landing strips.

Once the road was complete, Dessau was contracted to carry out the design and supervision of 7,000 km of high-voltage transmission lines connecting the James Bay hydropower facilities to the major regions of Quebec – some of which were more than 1,000 km away.

Participating in a project of this scale gave Dessau the opportunity to consolidate its expertise and laid the groundwork for the company’s international expansion.