Island Information
HOME / LIFE IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND / TRANSPORTATION / CONFEDERATION BRIDGE /
A Legend in the Making
In 1873, Prince Edward Island joined the Canadian Confederation. Upon entering the union with Canada, Prince Edward Island was promised that the Canadian federal government would ensure a "continuous means of communication between Prince Edward Island and the mainland would be maintained." In this day and age, that clause can be interpreted in many ways. But, to the people who inhabited Prince Edward Island in the late 1800s, it was understood to mean that Islanders would always have a way to travel between PEI and the mainland.
Early winter travel to New Brunswick was via rather fragile ice boats. On these trips across the Northumberland Strait, Men and boys were charged $2 and they were required to help push the boat over the ice. Women, elderly and invalids were charges $4 and were not allowed to pull the boat. All of this pushing and rowing, and rowing and pushing, not to mention occasional patches of inclement weather (yes, sometimes it rains and snows on PEI) tended to be an inconvenience for the travelling public. So in 1917, the first ferry service began and for the next 80 years Islanders travelled to and from the mainland by car ferry.
On October 7, 1993, the Government of Canada signed an agreement with Strait Crossing Development Inc., a consortium of Canadian enterprises, to finance, build, operate and maintain a bridge connecting Prince Edward Island to mainland Canada. The completion of the Confederation Bridge marked a historic engineering undertaking resulting in transportation efficiencies and an improved business climate in the Atlantic region and for Canada as a whole.
This project was the result of 11 years of hard work and public input and the culmination of a 124-year-old story of crossing the Northumberland Strait. The permanent, continuous and efficient means of year-round transportation between PEI and Canada fulfils a promise made long ago.
Link: Confederation Bridge
This information has been taken from website "Island Information"