in October of 1993 Strait crossing entered into an agreement with the Government of Canada to finance design/build own and operate the Northumberland Strait bridge immediately Strait crossing began the mammoth undertaking of designing and constructing one of the world's longest continuous multi span bridges a bridge that is safe and will ensure the severe weather conditions of the Northumberland Strait a project that addresses each and every environmental concern that must maintain a strict schedule to complete the bridge in three and a half years and a consortium that finances designs constructs assuming the risks for the costs and completion of the project and will operate the bridge for 35 years the Northumberland Strait bridge consists of to ensure approach bridges and one main bridge in total the 11 meter wide precast post-tensioned concrete bridge that joins Prince Edward Island and mainland new brunswick will be 13 kilometers long the two approached bridges are approximately 1,800 meters in length and the main bridge 11 kilometers long straight crossing has put environmental concerns at the forefront of this major construction project design and construction methods were developed in consideration of the unique terrestrial and marine environment surrounding the project site in 1994 the staging facilities were open for the production of bridge components and their construction began by the summer of 1995 Strait crossing employed over 2,000 people to bring the construction sites to full capacity subcontractors employed an additional 500 men and women of these 2,500 people more than 96 percent came from the Atlantic Canada region one of the key things that this project is done I believe for looking for and what is it done for the future is those people that it employed that are very young early in their careers be the engineers or tradesmen doesn't matter but the people that are very early in the working life I think it is implanted in them an understanding that everything is possible it's a great experience yeah I think there are a lot of dedicated people yeah.he working on the bids and having all the same goal to try to achieve that by the 1st of June this is going to be operational the way people are dedicated to the job and because I think they really feel that they are part of it components for the approach bridges were produced at the New Brunswick staging facility in Bayfield the components consist of precast concrete and were transported by land or water to the bridge site and assembled in place by a twin launching truss with a traveling gantry crane at the Prince Edward Island staging facility in Borden Carleton the main bridge components pier bases pier shafts main girders and drop-in girders have been produced the main bridge components consist of precast concrete and steel forms over the course of the project it is estimated more than 425 thousand cubic meters of concrete have been poured more than 50,000 tons of reinforcing steel placed and more than 12,000 tons of post tensioning cables installed the concrete for the main bridge components is produced at the staging facilities concrete batch plant at an astounding rate on average the batch plant produces 1500 cubic meters of concrete a day all bridge concrete is tested at an on-site testing lab to ensure the material meets all of Strait crossings quality control requirements in each of the four assembly line fashion component production areas high tensile post tensioning tendons and bars have been used to strengthen the completed components each pier base is designed and produced for a specific location in the Strait to suit the water depth at its final position each base may vary in height and mass with largest pier base weighing close to 50 200 tonnes and measuring 42 metres in height typically pier shafts which weigh up to 4,000 tonnes each suit the nominal bridge height of 40 metres off the water however about 20% of the shafts differ in height due to variations in the roadway profile grade at the navigation span and Pei approach fabrication of the drop-in girders differs from the pier shafts and bases because it uses a forming system which allows the entire girder to be cast without construction joints drop in girders measure up to sixty meters in length a typical dropping girder weighs approximately 1,200 tons the main bridge girders are the single largest component used in the construction of the bridge each girder is about 190 meters long and weighs up to 7,500 tons the Prince Edward Island staging facility is equipped with a slider track system for transferring these huge bridge components this concrete and steel system enables workers to move the enormous concrete components efficiently from one stage of construction to another with the help of a sledge a 240 ton large capacity transport unit the huge components are moved along the various stages of production into storage for curing and finally onto the marine jetty for load owed by the heavy lift vessel swamp Thursday July 13th 1995 the SWANA a one-of-a-kind floating crane arrived off the coast of Prince Edward Island during the following 18 months the Swan and will place a total of 175 main bridge components loading them from the jetty transporting them to the bridge site and placing each component in its position by utilizing the differential global positioning system however before the Swan and can place the bridge components each pier site must be excavated by the 420 foot Betty L crane barge the Betty L is then used to install concrete hardpoints at the pier site to create a horizontally level tripod for supporting the pier base after installation once the hard points have been placed the pier base is transported to the bridge site set in place then concreted to the ocean bottom the first pier base was placed in the Northumberland Strait by the Swan and on August 7th later that month on August 21st the first pier shaft was placed in the Northumberland Strait following the placement of a pier shaft a template is placed on top of the pier and grouted the template is match cast with the bottom of the main girder and is used to facilitate its precise positioning the first of the 44 main bridge girders was installed on October 1st the girder is placed on top of the previously positioned template post-tensioning tendons are installed through the girder the pier shaft and the pier base when stressed they form one complete unit the first drop-in girder was placed on November 17th a drop in greater is erected between two adjacent main girders closure joints are then cast and post-tensioning tendons are installed and stressed running the length of the span between the pier segments of the adjacent piers the Swan and crew continued working to place as many components as possible before the winter winds began to blow and the ice formed in the Strait in mid-december the Swan and six other Strait crossing vessels were moved to Georgetown for the winter in its first full construction season Strait crossing successfully completed the Prince Edward Island approach bridge placed 24 main bridge components in the Strait completed the piers for the New Brunswick approach bridge and maintain the project master schedule during the winter months work continued at the staging facilities in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island the early months of 1996 also presented the main bridge ice shields with their first test in an Atlantic Canadian winter the ice shields caused the impacting Strait ice to break up by forcing it to ride up the side of the cone and crumble back the ice shields are also designed to prevent an ice buildup ensuring there is no delayed ice out in the Strait during the winter of 1995 96 that technology was proven on March 23rd and 24th Street crossing invited the public aboard the hlv spawning the response was overwhelming see how big this thing really is yeah they're pretty huge isn't it yes enormous big just cents a week more than six thousand men women and children from across Atlantic Canada and from around the world came to see this enormous vessel close-up thanks to a mild spring the Swan and returned to her duties on the Northumberland Strait less than a month later on April 16th the crew on board had been busy over the course of the winter maintaining and servicing the heavy lift vessel making sure she was ready to tackle the busy season ahead I think we succeeded in in getting sufficient storage of components during the winter time and I must say a lot of appreciation for the people yeah of the graph people specially outside working on such difficult circumstances yeah about 15 20 degrees below zero with 24 components placed the year before the remained 151 components to erect before winter returned again the ongoing common challenge was was getting people to believe that it's that it's possible and that challenge went from the very beginning way through until I want to say probably any problem this year and I think that's when all of a sudden the pendulum started swinging in the and then every describe and say maybe it is possible and we can get to the New Brunswick abutment before the snow flies there were already 12 piers shafts 11 pure bases nine main girders and five drop-in girders completed and ready to be placed and another 12 pure bases six piers shafts 15 main girders and 11 drop-in girders in production in New Brunswick after spending the winter producing approach bridge segments crews began to place the components with the same launching trust that had completed the PEI approach bridge the season before as each week passed and construction continued the principles and concepts behind the construction of the Northumberland Strait bridge we proven they want to know how it is all the pieces go together how do they actually how do you tie them together is it is it like Lego we've we've seen the cartoons is it like that and you know in in the big picture it's it's not that much different one of the most important structural elements is one most people will never see this literally brings together the pier bases pier shafts and girders using a construction technique to create one continuous unit from all these individual components and is called post tensioning prior to pouring the concrete hollow PT ducts are placed within the reinforcing steel forms and tied down once the concrete has cured the components are post tensioned with high tensile strength steel tendons which have been threaded through the ducts throughout the length of the bridge superstructure post tensioning is used to pre-stress or pre compress the structure which reduces or eliminates undesirable tensile stresses that would otherwise cause the concrete to crack this same technology is used to tie the many smaller segments on the pei and new brunswick approaches into one continuous structure by the end of construction over 10 million lineal meters of post tensioning steel will be placed in the structure on august 3rd straight crossing reached an important milestone the placement of p22 the navigation span which marked the halfway point of the bridge the span which is 60 metres off the water has a maximum clearance of 55 metres in height the piers are 250 metres apart and offer a ship's clearance of 172 meters in width the navigation span is designed to accommodate the largest ships that travel the Strait there will also be navigation lights on each side of the piers to light up the channel for ships as well as a radar warning system bridge construction will also include twenty five thousand eight hundred and twenty lineal metres of barrier wall this wall has a base width of five hundred millimetres a top width of 225 millimeters and an overall height of eleven hundred millimetres above the top of the riding surface it is detailed to wrap around the edge of the bridge not only for aesthetic reasons but to protect the crucial transfers post-tensioning anchors very durable 45 mega Pascal concrete is used to construct the bridges barrier wall slip forming is a continuous extrusion process where fresh concrete is placed into the top of a horizontally moving form which vibrates compacts and then shapes the concrete into the barrier formation the barrier is strengthened by a reinforcing steel cage with electrical and control system ducts embedded inside the concrete september 27 1996 the bridge is named more than 2,200 entries were received these were narrowed to three finalists that were judged by a committee of seven people these three were sent to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada who made the final decision it's with great honor and privilege that I officially named this historic undertaking the confederation bridge another sign of the bridges progress was the start of construction of the Prince Edward Island toll plaza the toll plaza will consist of seven lanes with provisions for dedicated truck or car lanes mega-projects by the nature are notorious for being late and even the supporters of the project were probably somewhat surprised that we fulfilled all those commitments and met all our schedule targets as we said we would do that was the result of a lot of dedication and commitment of a large team towards meeting every milestone that was put in front of them along the way and delivering the project on date certain on Tuesday November 19th 1996 at 11:30 p.m. the last component of the confederation bridge was placed this dropping herders placement marked an important milestone for the project the provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick were physically connected it was a well-deserved celebration throughout the remaining six months prior to bridge opening crews prepared the bridge finishes the surfacing of the bridge involved crews producing in lane approximately 27,000 tons of technologically advanced polymer modified asphalt cement which was selected to provide stability in warmer temperatures and to be more flexible in colder temperatures the bridge deck was cleaned dried and pre heated by propane burners 270 degrees prior to the placement of the binder course a waterproofing membrane and the wearing course with a combined thickness of 70 millimeters and placed at temperatures over 160 degrees finishing work also included installation of closed-circuit television cameras traffic signals emergency alarms and call boxes at 750 meter intervals along the roadway equipment to monitor wind speeds and road conditions were also installed as well as variable speed limit signs and changeable message boards to inform motorists of bridge conditions and construction of a seven lane toll plaza for collection of tolls and gathering of traffic data these intelligent components form an electronic monitoring system which is networked to the bridge operations building from the toll plaza confederation bridge carries two lanes of traffic and has a shoulder on each side for emergency stopping the gentle slopes and curvature of the bridge design and the 1,100 millimeter barrier rails combined to make the confederation bridge and interesting and comfortable driving experience the bridge is operational 24 hours a day and is accessible to any vehicle permitted to travel the trans-canada highway from the toll plaza and operations building straight crossing officials collect tolls for vehicles and pedestrians shuttle passengers monitor weather conditions and control movement of traffic to ensure the safety of all travelers finally during the spring months when major construction of the bridge was nearing completion preparations for bridge fest 97 began a three day festival which would culminate in the official opening of the confederation bridge on the eve of bridge fest 97 a picnic for its employees and their families was hosted by straight crossing the celebration began with the unveiling of a monument honoring all the men and women who contributed to the construction of the bridge this monument displays many of the design features of the bridge and is a tribute to the determination and hard work which made the confederation bridge a reality is the best crew of people that I've ever ever been associated with a great job a job well done thank you very much however this gathering of over 2,500 individuals was just the beginning of a festival which would take place over the next three days and include 150,000 people making Federation bridge there is a vivid reminder of our commitment to Canada the confederation bridge fest 97 would be a celebration as big as the confederation bridge the bridge race and bridge walk were among the first events on opening day and gave participants the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cross the confederation bridge on foot the celebration continued with concerts buskers vendors exhibits and displays concerts on the main stage and the rendezvous stage entertained the crowds over the course of the festival with performances by the Rankin family bearish wah and many other performers the inaugural drive marked the beginning of the official opening of bridge fest 97 followed by an afternoon opening ceremony attended by the Honorable Deann Marlowe Minister of Public Works at Government Services Canada and the premiers of Pei Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as well as other distinguished guests but the highlight came on Saturday afternoon May 31st 1997 when at 5:15 p.m. vehicles drove up to the toll plaza paid the toll and were among the first to cross the confederation bridge bridge fest 97 was an event of a lifetime a milestone in Canada's history and a party which would not be soon forgotten it celebrated the hard work and achievements of countless men and women each of whom played an important role in the construction of this 100 year old dream the confederation bridge you
