Tuesday 19th November 1996
The structure of the 12.9 km (8 mile) Confederation Bridge, spanning the Abegweit Passage of Northumberland Strait, was completed. The two-lane toll bridge carries the Trans-Canada Highway between Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island (at Route 1) and Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick (at Route 16). It is a multi-span beam bridge with a post-tensioned concrete box girder structure. Most of the curved bridge is 40 metres (131 ft) above water with a 60 m (197 ft) navigation span for ship traffic. The bridge rests on 62 piers, of which the 44 main piers are 250 m (820 ft) apart. The bridge is 11 m (36 ft) wide. The speed limit on the bridge is 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph). It takes about 12 minutes to cross the bridge.
The construction, which was carried out by a construction joint venture of Ballast Nedam, GTMI (Canada), Northern Construction and Strait Crossing Inc., started in the fall of 1993, beginning with preparation of staging facilities. Bridge components were built year-round from 1994 to the summer of 1996, and placement of components began in the fall of 1994 until the fall of 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.
All bridge components were constructed on land, in purpose-built staging yards located on the shoreline at Amherst Head, fronting on Borden Harbour just east of the town and ferry docks, and an inland facility located at Bayfield, New Brunswick about 3 km (1.9 mi) 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 km (1.2 mi) from the New Brunswick shore, and .5 km (0.3 mi) from the Prince Edward Island shore.
Extremely durable high-grade concrete and reinforcing steel were 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 Dutch-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 Øresund Bridge.
Construction of the fixed link required over 5,000 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 provincial GDP rising over 5% during the construction, providing a short-term economic boom for the Island.
The official opening for the bridge took place on May 31, 1997, with the first traffic crossing at approximately 5:00 p.m. ADT following a nationally televised ceremony which aired on CBC and included a sailpast of the schooner Bluenose II and several Canadian Coast Guard ships, a flyover by the Snowbirds, and an emotional farewell to the beloved ferries which made their final crossings that evening. It is estimated that almost 75,000 people participated in a “Bridge Walk” and “Bridge Run” during the hours immediately prior to the opening for traffic.
In the days following the opening of the bridge, ferry operator Marine Atlantic disposed of its four vessels. The ferry terminals and docks in both ports were removed over the summer of 1997.
