Confederation Bridge
The Confederation Bridge is a bridge spanning Northumberland Strait, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick, Canada. At 12.9 kilometres, it is the longest bridge over waters that freeze in the world.The two-lane highway toll bridge carries the Trans-Canada Highway between Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island and Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick. It is a multi-span post-tensioned concrete box girder structure. Most of the curved bridge is 40 metres above the water, but it contains a 60 metre high navigation span to permit ship traffic. The bridge rests on 62 piers, of which the main piers are 250 metres apart. The bridge is 11 metres wide.
Tolls are paid only when exiting Prince Edward Island; the current toll rate is $39.00 CDN for an automobile, with other rates for other types of vehicles. A free shuttle service is available for pedestrians and cyclists.
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2 Early Discussions of a Fixed Link 3 New Proposal and the Plebescite 4 Construction 5 See also 6 External Link |
When the province of Prince Edward Island entered Confederation on July 1, 1873, the Dominion of Canada was constitutionally bound to provide
Steamships, Iceboats, and Ferries
Following Confederation, early steamship services across Northumberland Strait connected the Island ports of Charlottetown and Georgetown with railway facilities at Pictou, Nova Scotia. Similar services operated between Summerside and Shediac, New Brunswick.
The most direct route across the Northumberland Strait, however, was at the 13 kilometre wide Abegweit Passage. Infrequent winter service provided by underpowered steamships incapable of breaking sea ice ensured the survival of a passenger and mail service across Abegweit Passage using iceboats until a permanent ferry service was established in the 1910s.
The unsatisfactory winter steamship service and reliance upon primitive iceboats, provoked complaints from the Island government until the federal government decided to implement a railcar ferry service across Abegweit Passage between new ports at Port Borden and Cape Tormentine. An icebreaking railcar ferry, the Prince Edward Island, was put into service in 1915, operating on the former steamship routes until new harbour facilities were opened in 1917. Automobile service was added in 1938 and other vessels followed as the ferry service expanded in the post-war years.
This ferry service was initially the responsibility of Canadian Government Railways and later Canadian National Railway. In 1986, all federal government ferry services in Atlantic Canada were transferred to the new Crown corporation Marine Atlantic.
Prince Edward Island(1915-1968); Charlottetown (1931-1941); Abegweit (1947-1982); Confederation (1962-1975); John Hamilton Gray (1968-1997); Lucy Maude Montgomery (1969-1973); Holiday Island (1971-1997); Vacationland (1971-1997); Abegweit (1982-1997)
Early talk of a fixed link (as it is called) can be traced to George Howlan who called for construction of a railway tunnel beneath Abegweit Passage at the same time as a railway was being built across the province in the 1870s. Howlan also raised the issue as a member of the provincial Legislative Assembly, and in March, 1891 as a Senator and member of a delegation to meetings on the subject, conducted at the British Parliament. The idea lost favour following his death in 1901.
Talk of a fixed link was revived in 1957, only two years following the opening of the Canso Causeway, and at the same time as another mega-project, the St. Lawrence Seaway was being constructed. A rockfill causeway was proposed to cross Abegweit Passage, with a 300-metre bridge/tunnel to accommodate shipping. This plan was rejected for navigational reasons but in 1965, the federal government called for tenders for a $148 million CDN fixed link featuring a tunnel/causeway/bridge. Approach roads and railway lines were constructed at Borden and Jourimain Island but the project was formally abandoned in 1969 in favour of improved ferry services.
Consideration of a fixed link was renewed when Public Works Canada received three unsolicited offers in 1985-1986, including a tunnel, a bridge, and a combined tunnel/causeway/bridge. This sparked a debate on the Island, and Premier Joe Ghiz promised a plebiscite to gauge public support, which was held on January 18, 1988.
During the debate, the anti-link group Friends of the Island cited potential ecological damage from the construction, as well as concerns about the impact on Prince Edward Island's lifestyle in general. The pro-link group Islanders for a Better Tomorrow noted transportation reliability would result in improvements for exporters and the tourism industry. The result was 59.4% in favour of the fixed link.
The debate did not end with the plebeiscite, and after numerous legal challenges, and a lengthy environmental impact assessment, the announcement that the Northumberland Strait Crossing Project would be built was finally made on December 2, 1992.
Construction started in the fall of 1993, beginning with preparation of staging facilities. Bridge components were built year-round from 1994 to summer of 1996, and placement of components began in fall 1994 until fall 1996. Approach roads, toll plazas and final work on the structure continued until the spring of 1997, at an estimated total cost of $1 billion CDN.
All bridge components were constructed on land, in purpose-built staging yards located at Amherst Head, fronting on Borden Harbour just east of the town and ferry docks, and at Bayfield, New Brunswick about 3 kilometres west of Cape Tormentine. The Amherst Head staging facility was where all large components were built, including the pier bases, ice shields, main spans, and drop-in spans. The Bayfield facility was used to construct components for the near-shore bridges which were linked using a launching truss extending over shallow waters almost 2 kilometres from the New Brunswick shore, and 0.5 kilometres from the Prince Edward Island shore.
Extremely durable high-grade concrete and rebar was used throughout construction of the pre-cast components, with the estimated lifespan of the bridge being in excess of 100 years. Their sheer size and weight required strengthening of the soil base during the design and preparation work for the Amherst Head staging facility, as well as the use of a crawler transport system to move pieces from fabrication to storage, and onto a nearby pier. These crawler transports, using specially designed teflon-coated concrete rails, earned the nickname lobsters from workers.
All major components were lifted from the Amherst Head staging facility, transported, and placed in Abegweit Passage using the HLV Svanen, a Danish-built heavy lift catamaran, which during the construction of the fixed link, was reportedly the tallest man-made structure in the province. HLV Svanen was custom-built for use on the Great Belt Bridge in the early 1990s, Denmark's largest construction project, and was modified at a French shipyard before working on the Northumberland Strait Crossing Project. Following the placement of the final major component and completion of the bridge structure in Abegweit Passage on November 19, 1996, HLV Svanen returned to Denmark for use in construction of the ÃÂÃÂresund Bridge.
Construction of the fixed link required over 3,000 workers ranging from labourers and specialty trades, to engineers, surveyors and managers. The economic impact of construction on Prince Edward Island was substantial, with the GDP rising over 5% during the construction years.Ferries and Service Years
Early Discussions of a Fixed Link
New Proposal and the Plebescite
Construction