Gunningsville Bridge

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View of the old Gunningsville Bridge (right) next the new bridge nearing completion (left). The old bridge was demolished when the new bridge was opened late in 2005.

The Gunningsville Bridge has been a name given to five different bridges that crossed the Petitcodiac River between Moncton and Riverview, New Brunswick, Canada. The latest Gunningsville Bridge opened on November 19, 2005.

The first bridge, constructed in 1864, was damaged severely by the Saxby Gale in 1869. The second bridge, opened in 1873 and was under repair when a storm destroyed three of its spans in 1891. A third bridge replaced it, and closed in 1915.

The fourth Gunningsville Bridge (now known as the "old" bridge), was completed on January 27, 1917. This bridge had a long history of accidents. In a 1929 freak accident, a river scow named the Mayflower lost control due to the strong tidal bore on the river, and it crashed into the bridge. Its cargo of lumber was lost and two men drowned.

In recent years, trucks, trailers and buses were banned from using the bridge as it had been built during the latter days of the horse and buggy era and was unable to accommodate larger vehicles. It was a regular occurrence for vehicles to lose their side mirrors against the bridge pillars. Buses were accommodated by having an attendant stop traffic for a few minutes in one direction to allow them to cross. Area residents demanded a new, wider bridge, and construction finally began in 2002 when structural evaluations indicated that repairing the structure would be too costly.

The new four-lane Gunningsville Bridge, opened in 2005, has dramatically improved access between downtown Riverview and Moncton. A highway extension to Vaughan Harvey Boulevard in Moncton is under construction in 2006. The old bridge has been demolished.