Confederation Bridge

Confederation Bridge
File:Confederation Bridge whole length from air.jpg Confederation Bridge, 2004
Coordinates	46°12′55″N 63°44′45″W
Carries	2 lanes
Crosses	Northumberland Strait
Locale	Borden–Carleton, PEI Cape Jourimain, NB
Official name	Confederation Bridge / Pont de la Confederation
Other name(s)	The Fixed Link
Maintained by	Strait Crossing Bridge Limited (SCBL)
Characteristics
Design	Multi–span post–tensioned concrete box girder
Total length	12.9 kilometres (8.1 miles)
History
Opened	31 May 1997
Statistics
Daily traffic	30,000+
Toll	$16.25 motorcycle $40.50 car $6.75 per extra axle (west bound only) all amounts CAD
Location

The Confederation Bridge (46°12′55″N 63°44′45″W; French: Pont de la Confédération) is a bridge spanning the Abegweit Passage of Northumberland Strait, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick, Canada. It was commonly referred to as the "Fixed Link" by residents of Prince Edward Island prior to its official naming. Construction began in the fall of 1993, and continued for three and a half years, and cost $1 billion. The bridge opened on 31 May 1997.

Structure

The bridge is a two-lane highway toll bridge that 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 (132 feet) above water, and it contains a 60 metre (198 feet) high navigation span to permit ship traffic. The bridge rests on 62 piers, of which the 44 main piers are 250 metres (825 feet) apart. The bridge is 11 metres (36 feet) wide.

Tolls are paid only when exiting Prince Edward Island; the current toll rate is $40.50 for an automobile, with other rates for different types of vehicles. Pedestrians and cyclists are not permitted to cross; however, a shuttle service is available. The speed limit on the bridge is 80 km/h (50 mph).

Heading southbound towards New Brunswick

Steamships, iceboats, and ferries

As a part of Prince Edward Island's admission into the Dominion of Canada in 1873, the Canadian government was obligated to provide...

"efficient steam service for the conveyance of mails and passengers to be established and maintained between the Island and the mainland of the Dominion, winter and summer, thus placing the Island in continuous communication with the Intercolonial Railway and the railway system of the Dominion..."

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. From 1977-1986, CN's subsidiary CN Marine operated the ferries between Cape Tormentine and Borden. In 1986, CN Marine was renamed when all federal government ferry services in Atlantic Canada were transferred to the new Crown corporation Marine Atlantic.

Ferries and service years

• Prince Edward Island (1915-1968)
• Scotia I (various years 1917-1955)
• Scotia II (various years 1917-1968)
• Charlottetown (1931-1941)
• Abegweit (1947-1982), renamed Abby (1982-1983)
• Confederation (1962-1975)
• John Hamilton Gray (1968-1997)
• Lucy Maude Montgomery (1969-1973)
• Holiday Island (1971-1997)
• Vacationland (1971-1997)
• Abegweit (1982-1997)

Early discussions of a fixed link

Early talk of a fixed link 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 the 1950s and 1960s, coinciding with federal election campaigns. The topic was raised 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 (1,000 foot) bridge/tunnel to accommodate shipping. This plan was rejected for navigational reasons but was raised again in 1962, and in 1965, the federal government, ignoring concerns of the shipping industry, called for tenders for a $148 million 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 upon scientific recommendation in favour of improved ferry services.

Due to the extremely complex tidal regime in the Northumberland Strait consisting of diurnal and semi-diurnal cycles, any attempt to close Abegweit Passage would be next to impossible since the tidal cycles on each side of a causeway would be placed at opposites to each other. It is estimated by tidal experts at the Canadian Hydrographic Service, that tidal currents through a gap in such a causeway would be in excess of 18 knots (33 kilometres/hour), powerful enough to counter most commercial ships and to sweep away boulders the size of houses.

New proposal and the plebescite

Consideration of a fixed link was renewed in the 1980s by an unsolicited proposal from a Nova Scotia businessman. The federal government favoured the construction of a fixed link chiefly because of the rising costs of providing ferry service (a constitutional requirement dating from PEI's accession to Confederation) and the increasing deficits being incurred by the railway system on PEI (run as part of Canadian National, then a Crown corporation). The federal government proposed to provide a fixed subsidy for the construction and operation of a fixed link, in return for the province agreeing to the abandonment of the ferry service and the railway system. Following the election of the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, with its agenda for regional development through so-called "mega-projects," Public Works Canada called for formal proposals in 1987 and received three offers. These proposals included a tunnel, a bridge, and a combined tunnel-causeway-bridge.

These developments sparked an extremely divisive debate on the Island, and Premier Joe Ghiz promised a plebiscite to gauge public support, which was held on January 18, 1988.

Friends of the Island

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, and noted that the "mega-project" model has had limited success in other areas of the world, and rarely enriched the local population. The Friends of the Island believed that a fixed link was being pressured by a federal government not willing to shoulder the cost of constitutional obligations for funding an efficient ferry service, and that a link would be built largely for the benefit of mainland tourists and businesses waiting to exploit the Island.

Islanders for a Better Tomorrow

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.

Bridge development

The debate did not end with the 1988 plebiscite and the federal government faced numerous legal challenges and a lengthy environmental impact assessment for the project. The developer of the single bridge proposal, Strait Crossing Development Inc., was selected and an announcement that the Northumberland Strait Crossing Project would be built was finally made on December 2, 1992; the developer being required to privately finance all construction through bond markets.

Shareholders of Strait Crossing Development Inc. include:

• VINCI Concessions Canada Inc., Montreal, Quebec
• BPC Maritime Corporation, Toronto, Ontario
• Strait Crossing Inc., Calgary, Alberta (subsidiary of W. A. Stephenson / Stephenson Construction International (SCI) Engineers & Constructors Group of Companies)
• Ballast Nedam Canada Limited, Edmonton, Alberta

Constitutional amendment

As mentioned, the Schedule to the Prince Edward Island Terms of Union in the Constitution of Canada had required steamship service to connect the Island's railway system with that of mainland North America. Steamships were replaced by a dedicated ferry service in 1917, however, no changes were made to the wording of the constitution. The fixed crossing, however, was sufficiently divergent to require a constitutional amendment (see Amendments to the Constitution of Canada).

The Constitution Amendment Proclamation, 1993 (Prince Edward Island) dealt with this issue, as well as the issue of tolls on the crossing. It made clear that the government (or a private body) was within its right to charge a toll (an essential part of the government's financing plans) for the crossing without violating the terms of union:

"That a fixed crossing joining the Island to the mainland may be substituted for the steam service referred to in this Schedule... That, for greater certainty, nothing in this Schedule prevents the imposition of tolls for the use of such a fixed crossing between the Island and the mainland, or the private operation of such a crossing;"

Construction

Construction was started by Strait Crossing Development Inc. 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.

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 kilometres (1.8 miles) 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 (1.2 miles) from the New Brunswick shore, and 0.5 kilometres (0.3 miles) from the Prince Edward Island shore.

Extremely durable high-grade concrete and reinforcing steel 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 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.

Naming and grand opening

The bridge from ground level on the New Brunswick side.

Since the Island-coined nickname "Fixed Link" was not considered appropriate, and the federal government-coined project name "Northumberland Strait Crossing Project" was deemed awkward, there was a need for a formal name for the structure. Throughout construction, the federal government received suggestions for names and on September 27, 1996 the name "Confederation Bridge" was chosen.

This name is not without controversy as many Islanders feel the word "Confederation" is overused throughout the province, finding use in the name of a Northumberland Ferries Limited vessel (M/V Confederation), a performing arts centre and art gallery (Confederation Centre of the Arts), a shopping centre (Confederation Court Mall), and the province-wide rails to trails system (Confederation Trail), as well as in tourism promotions (eg. "Birthplace of Confederation"). The preference of Islanders was reportedly to use the name "Abegweit Crossing" which would pay homage to the Abegweit Passage, the vessel M/V Abegweit which the bridge would replace, and to the Mi'kmaq traditional name for the province.

However, at a time when national unity had just been challenged in the razor-thin results of the 1995 Quebec referendum, the federal government opted for a bilingually appropriate and nationally accepted, politically correct name for Canada's longest bridge connecting the mainland portion of the country to the province where the first meetings at the Charlottetown Conference in September 1864 led to the Confederation of British North America.

Following the completion of the structure on November 19, 1996, SCI worked throughout the winter on numerous projects including: paving the bridge deck, placing protective walls which act as wind barriers, placing bridge deck and navigational lighting, constructing the Borden-Carleton toll plaza, and finishing the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island approach roads. In separate construction, the federal and provincial governments built a new commercial and tourist development on the abandoned CN rail yards in Borden-Carleton, with phase I of this facility opening in spring 1997 as "Gateway Village". New Brunswick has never received similar federal support to improve the economy of Cape Tormentine, which has become a shadow of its former role in PEI transportation history, although in recent years a new eco-tourist and visitor centre was opened on Jourimain Island near the western end of the bridge.

The official opening for the bridge took place on May 31, 1997 with the first traffic crossing at approximately 17h00 ADT following a nationally televised ceremony which aired on CBC and included a sailpast of the schooner Bluenose II, 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.

Operation

The bridge is operated by Strait Crossing Bridge Limited (SCBL), a subsidiary of the Strait Crossing Development Inc. consortium which built the structure. SCBL privately manages, maintains and operates the bridge until 2032, after which time such operations will be transferred to the Government of Canada. The Government of Canada agreed to an annual payment of approximately $44 million for 33 years to Strait Crossing Development Inc. - this being the subsidy which was formerly paid to Marine Atlantic to cover operating losses of the ferry system. These payments are in effect a mortgage and are being used by the developer to pay off construction costs. In 2032 the bridge's ownership will revert to the federal government. All tolls charged by SCBL are profit for the consortium with toll increases indexed to inflation and regulated by the federal government.

Effect

The number of tourists visiting Prince Edward Island increased from 740,000 in 1996 (the year before the bridge opened) to 1,200,000 in 1997[1], although this has dropped off somewhat to stabilize at around 1 million visitors annually. Ironically, the number of visitors actually staying in overnight accommodations in the province has decreased below pre-1996 levels, as many visitors are now choosing to tour PEI and its beaches and attractions in "day trips" out of Moncton or Halifax before continuing to tour the rest of eastern Canada. Prince Edward Island has responded by building high-end attractions such as golf courses to encourage increased spending by tourists during their shorter stays. Demographics such as the aging baby boomer population has also resulted in fewer families visiting the island, so overall the impact of the Fixed Link on tourism is difficult to estimate.

Where the link has made a difference is in the export of food from Prince Edward Island's agriculture and fishing industries. Potato production has increased dramatically, with industrial farming techniques being used to meet the demand. An increased number of food processing plants, creating items such as french fries and potato chips, has also benefitted from access to the increased potato crop and the ease of transporting off the island. Time-critical seafood has also increased exports from Prince Edward Island since 1997.

The island has also witnessed a revolution in its retail sector since the opening of the Fixed Link. Prior to 1997, big box stores could only be found in larger centres in the Maritimes such as Halifax, Moncton, or Saint John. Prince Edward Island had a larger number of smaller, family-owned retail stores than other provinces, with few shopping malls and less selection of consumer goods. The opening of the Fixed Link was viewed with concern by government and the retail sector alike, as many thought Islanders would use the quicker transportation connection to drive to Moncton for many large-item purchases. While there was a small increase in the number of off-Island shoppers, the provincial government established a program of encouraging big box retailers to establish in the province, including elimination of provincial sales tax on clothing and footwear, resulting in a plethora of chains such as Wal-Mart, Future Shop, Staples, and Home Depot choosing to build stores on the Island. Correspondingly, many smaller locally-owned stores have gone out of business in one of the more visible impacts since the opening of the Fixed Link.

See also

• List of bridges
• List of bridges by length
• Megaprojects

External links

• Confederation Bridge
• Bridge seen from the island
• CBC Digital Archives - The Confederation Bridge: P.E.I. Connects
• SC Infrastructure