The International Avenue Bridge is an international bridge across the St. Croix River, connecting the town of St. Stephen, New Brunswick in Canada with the town of Calais, Maine in the United States.
Opened on November 16, 2009, it is the third bridge connecting the two communities, in addition to the Ferry Point International Bridge and the Milltown International Bridge. The International Avenue Bridge serves commercial, cargo, trucking, passenger vehicles, campers, RVs, buses and other heavy and through traffic, while both the Ferry Point and Milltown crossings remain in use for passenger vehicles and local traffic.[1]
The bridge received approval in 2006.[2]
Although both facilities began actual operations with the bridge opening on November 16, 2009, the United States Customs facility in Calais was officially opened by Senator Susan Collins on November 23,[3] while the Canada Customs facility in St. Stephen was officially opened by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on January 8, 2010.[1] The new bridge represents the first new border crossing between the US and Canada in almost 40 years.
On the New Brunswick side, the bridge connects to a new four-lane expressway segment of New Brunswick Route 1, which extends from St. Stephen to Waweig. From there, the route narrows into a two-lane highway for 58 kilometres to Lepreau, where it again widens into a freeway for the remainder of its route, until ending at an interchange with New Brunswick Route 2, the main route of the Trans-Canada Highway, at River Glade near Moncton. Construction began in 2010 to upgrade the segment between Waweig and Lepreau to four lanes.
In Maine, the bridge connects to Maine State Route 9, linking it to Interstate 95 at Bangor.