Design & Construction

Design At 12.9 kilometres (8 miles), the Confederation Bridge is the world’s longest bridge over ice-covered water. It has won dozens of international engineering awards since its construction, and was designed to last for a century.

Because of its phenomenal length, the bridge uses a multi-span concrete box girder structure. The design was produced by a consortium headed by a joint venture of J. Mueller International and Stantec (formerly known as SLG Consulting).

Engineers designed the bridge with graceful curves to ensure drivers remain attentive, and to reduce the potential for accidents that experts believe happen more often on straight highways or bridges. The highest curve at the Navigation Span reaches 60 metres above water, allowing large sea vessels, including some cruise ships, to navigate under the bridge between its piers, which stand 250 metres apart.

Construction The majority of the construction took place ashore at staging facilities in Bayfield, New Brunswick and Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island. The components were then assembled in place over the 35-metre-deep water. The Confederation Bridge consists of three parts: the 1.3 kilometre-long West Approach Bridge leaving Jourimain Island, over 14 piers; the 0.6 kilometre-long East Approach Bridge leaving Borden-Carleton, over seven piers; and the 11 kilometre-long Main Bridge which joins the approach bridges, resting on 44 piers.

Construction began on October 7, 1993. Crews at the staging facility in New Brunswick created the approach bridges using precast concrete in steel forms, while the main bridge components – including pier bases, shafts, main girders, and drop-in girders – were produced on the opposite side of the Northumberland Strait, at the staging facility in PEI. Once the precast components were complete in July 1995, the forms were transported by water to the bridge site, and assembled in place by a twin launching truss with a one-of-a-kind travelling gantry crane called the Svanen. One of the most important structural elements of the bridge is hidden: a construction technique called post-tensioning was used to tie the pier bases, shafts, and girder together into one solid, continuous structure that is designed to last 100 years. Construction crews reached an important milestone in August 1996, when the P22, or Navigation Span, was set in place by the crane, marking the halfway point of the bridge. On November 19, 1996, shortly before midnight, the last component of the Confederation Bridge was placed.

Operations and Maintenance The Confederation Bridge is 11 metres wide, and has a 3.75 metre-wide lane for traffic in each direction, with a shoulder on each side. It features a hollow corridor through which a series of cables run, carrying utility services from the mainland to Prince Edward Island.

The bridge was designed with several safety features, including strictly enforced speed limits, a road surface made of long-lasting bituminous mixture that minimizes vehicle spray during wet weather, and more than 7,000 drain ports that allow rainwater and slush to run off the bridge. Twenty-two closed-circuit television cameras and a crew of dedicated personnel provide full surveillance of the bridge 24 hours a day, and traffic signals, emergency alarms and call boxes are supported by an uninterruptable power supply.

The bridge also hosts a weather monitoring station, providing real-time information on wind speed, wind direction, air and road temperature, humidity, dew point, and the rate of precipitation. Bridge control staff use this information around the clock to issue electronic Travel Advisories, warning drivers of dangerous conditions. Travellers can also log onto a real-time Bridge Cam to view conditions throughout the day and night.