Saint John Harbour Bridge

Saint John Harbour Bridge, October 2006

The Saint John Harbour Bridge is three-span crossing of Saint John Harbour at the mouth of the Saint John River in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It opened in 1968.

History

By the mid-20th century, the rate of industrial and residential growth in Saint John and surrounding communities necessitated a second bridge over the Saint John River. The old Reversing Falls Bridge was adequate for handling the post-War traffic growth; however public concerns about where to build a new highway and bridge frustrated the idea for many years. On May 1, 1961 the city's Common Council appointed a 6-member citizens' committee which then directed various studies and discussions.

Ultimately, the bridge was built as a cooperative project between the federal, provincial and municipal governments. They decided to purchase the majority of the Mill Street Yard from the Canadian Pacific Railway for a new highway alignment which would run through the middle of the city downstream of Reversing Falls. The federally controlled National Harbours Board (now Ports Canada) would build the bridge. Part of this deal involved the NHB collecting a 25¢ toll in each direction. Under the original act prevented any toll increase or forty years without federal, provincial and municipal agreement. .

The selected location remains controversial as it prevents high-clearance vessels from navigating into the upper part of Saint John Harbour. Construction of the bridge also drew to a close the status of Navy Island as an island within the Inner Harbour and resulted in the demolition of the historic neo-gothic Union Station. Earlier proposals had called for the Saint John Throughway and the bridge to be built north of the Reversing Falls gorge.

Design and capacity

Saint John Harbour Bridge was designed and built as a hollow box, haunched girder structure. It carries four lanes traffic across 3 spans, measuring 125 metres (410 ft), 250 metres (820 ft), and 125 metres (410 ft). Contracts for the four main piers were signed in September 1965 and the crossing opened on August 17, 1968 as part of the ambitious Saint John Throughway project.

Sinuous lines of the Saint John Harbour Bridge snake across the harbour in the morning fog

Tolls were set at 25 cents when the bridge was constructed. The Harbour Bridge Authority increased the cash-toll from $0.25 to $0.50 for regular commuter traffic beginning January, 2007. This is the first, and only, permitted rate increase since the bridge was built.

Transfer of authority

Meanwhile, by 2010, more than forty years after the bridge was built, it was in need of more than $35 million worth of repairs. Without the necessary repairs, the Harbour Bridge Authority warned it would need to close two lanes of traffic and impose weight restrictions on the bridge, threatening to inhibit traffic flow during commute times as well as posing as a problem to transports coming to and from the bordering state of Maine.^[1]

The three levels of government negotiating the project's financing. On November 26, 2010 Stephen Harper and David Alward announced an agreement. It eliminated the toll and wiped away a $22.6 million debt, while the Federal Government agreed to pay for half of the $35 million structural repairs.^[2]

The Bridge Authority was abolished and management of the bridge was placed under the New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. In 2013, the Department announced that it had sold the office building formerly used by the Bridge Authority to the Saint John Port Authority.^[3]

References

↑ CBC News "Saint John Harbour Bridge repairs needed soon", CBC News, 24 March 2010
↑ CBC News, "Harper reveals Saint John bridge deal". CBC. 26 November 2010 <http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2010/11/26/nb-saint-john-harbour-bridge-harper-227.html>.
↑ "Saint John Harbour Bridge building sold to Port Saint John". New Brunswick government Press Release. 5 July 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2013.

Saint John River Watershed
Tributaries	Allagash River Aroostook River Baker Branch Saint John River Becaguimec Stream Big Black River Birch River Blackwater River Campbell Branch Little Black River River De Chute Daaquam River Fish River Hammond River Jemseg River Kennebecasis River Keswick River Little Black River Little Machias River Little Madawaska River Little River Little Saint Roch River Little Southwest Branch Saint John River Machias River Madawaska River Meduxnekeag River Musquacook Stream Nashwaak River Nerepis River North Branch Birch River North Branch Blackwater River North Branch Meduxnekeag River Northwest Branch Saint John River Oromocto River Red River Saint Croix Stream Saint Francis River Shields Branch South Branch Birch River South Branch Blackwater River South Branch Machias River South Branch Meduxnekeag River Southwest Branch Saint John River Tobique River West Branch Little Black River
Lakes	Baker Lake Beau Lake Chemquasabamticook Lake Churchill Lake Clear Lake Cross Lake Eagle Lake (Allagash R.) Eagle Lake (Fish R.) Fish River Lake Glazier Lake Grand Lake Long Lake Mactaquac Lake Millinocket Lake Mud Lake Munsungan Lake Musquacook Lakes Lake Pohenegamook Portage Lake Saint Froid Lake Saint John Ponds Scopan Lake Square Lake Umsaskis Lake
Towns	Allagash Ashland Blaine Bridgewater Caribou Eagle Lake Easton Edmundston Florenceville-Bristol Fort Fairfield Fort Kent Fredericton Frenchville Grand Bay–Westfield Grand Falls Grand Isle Hampton Hartland Hodgdon Houlton Lac-Frontière Limestone Littleton Madawaska Mapleton Mars Hill Masardis Monticello Nackawic New Limerick Oromocto Perham Perth-Andover Pohénégamook Portage Lake Presque Isle Quispamsis Rivière-Bleue Rothesay Sainte Agatha Saint-Camille-de-Lellis Saint-Cyprien Saint Francis Saint John Saint-Just-de-Bretenières Saint-Léonard Saint-Marcel Saint-Pamphile Saint-Zacharie Stockholm Sussex Van Buren Washburn Westfield Woodstock
Landmarks	Allagash Wilderness Waterway Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Clair–Fort Kent Bridge Edmundston–Madawaska Bridge Florenceville Bridge Fort Kent Hartland Bridge North Maine Woods Reversing Falls Saint John Harbour Bridge Saint John River High Level Crossing Saint Leonard–Van Buren Bridge Tinker Dam Watson Settlement Bridge

Coordinates: 45°15′59.4″N 66°4′27.5″W / 45.266500°N 66.074306°W / 45.266500; -66.074306

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