Saint John Harbour Bridge
Encyclopedia
Saint John Harbour
Saint John Harbour is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Canada. It was represented from its creation for the 1995 election until October 13, 2005 by Elizabeth Weir, the leader of the New Democratic Party of New Brunswick from 1988 to September 25, 2005...
at the mouth of the Saint John River in Saint John
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
History
Saint John's industrial and residential growth required a second bridge over the Saint John River by the mid-20th century. The Reversing Falls BridgeReversing Falls Bridge
The Reversing Falls Bridge is a 2-lane highway bridge crossing the Saint John River at Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It carries New Brunswick Route 100 across the river and there is no toll for its use.-History:...
was inadequate for handling modern traffic growth, however concern over where a new highway and bridge would cross the river frustrated the project 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.
On April 13, 1962 the New Brunswick legislature passed an act to establish a Saint John Harbour Bridge Authority that would build, maintain and operate a toll bridge crossing Saint John Harbour. Contracts for the four main piers were signed in September 1965 and the crossing opened on August 17, 1968 as part of the Saint John Throughway project.
The bridge's location proved quite controversial as it prevents high-clearance vessels from navigating into the upper part of the harbour. Earlier proposals had called for the Saint John Throughway and its bridge to be built north of the Reversing Falls
Reversing Falls
The Reversing Falls are a series of rapids on the Saint John River located in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, where the river runs through a narrow gorge before emptying into the Bay of Fundy....
gorge. Construction of the bridge also drew to a close the status of Navy Island
Navy Island, New Brunswick
Navy Island was a small island situated within the Inner Harbour of Saint John, New Brunswick in Canada. For centuries, Navy Island existed as a narrow, oval shaped hunk of rock sitting roughly at the turning point of the harbour where the deep open water ends and the harbour approaches the...
as an island within the Inner Harbour.
The bridge carries 4 lanes of Route 1
New Brunswick Route 1
Route 1 is an important highway in the southern part of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It begins in the west from the Canada-United States border at St. Stephen, and runs east for to Route 2 at River Glade....
across 3 spans, measuring 125 m, 250 m, and 125 m. The bridge was a cooperative project of the federal, provincial and municipal governments.
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 rate increase since the bridge was built.
On November 26, 2010 Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
and David Alward
David Alward
David Nathan Alward is a Canadian politician, the 32nd and current Premier of New Brunswick.Alward has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick since 1999 and has been the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick since 2008...
officially announced the toll for the bridge will be eliminated. The agreement wipes away the $22.6 million dollar debt and the Federal Government
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
is willing to pay for half of the $35 million dollar structural repairs.
As of April 1, 2011, just before 4pm, the tolls were abolished.
Upkeep
Today, more than forty years after the bridge was built, it is in dire need of more than $35 million worth of repairs. Currently, the three levels of government are negotiating the project's financing.Without the necessary repairs, the Harbour Bridge Authority has warned it will need to close two lanes of traffic and impose weight restrictions on the bridge, greatly inhibiting traffic flow during commute times as well as posing as a problem to transports coming to and from the bordering state of Maine.