We drove across the Confederation Bridge both ways between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island on our road trip. I wanted to drive across this long bridge since my professional field involves roads and bridges. The Confederation Bridge is 12.9 km (8 mi) long and is operated 24 hours a day by the Strait Crossing Bridge Limited in Borden-Carleton (Summerside), Prince Edward Island.
This engineering marvel crosses the Northumberland Strait at its narrowest point, with 45 main bridge spans, 14 spans on the New Brunswick approach, and 7 spans on the Prince Edward Island approach. The bridge was designed over several years and constructed by 2,500 men and women enduring freezing temperatures over the frigid waters and frozen ice over three years. There were staging areas on each side of the bridge which produced key bridge components on site and barges were used out on the strait to construct the bridge, piece by piece. The design life of the bridge is 100 years.
The Confederation Bridge opened to traffic in 1997, providing a more efficient fixed crossing and making it the longest bridge in the world over ice waters or shall I say ice. Before the bridge was opened, a Car Ferry operated between Borden-Carleton and Cape Tormentine, NB.
The Confederation Bridge is the easiest way to travel by vehicle to Prince Edward Island versus taking a ferry. However, there was a drawback driving across the bridge. The concrete barriers along the shoulder for safety were too high for my car and we could not see the Strait in most places.
There's no toll traveling from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island, but there's a toll of $44.50 CAD (2 axle autos) on the trip from Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick. They take cash and credit cards, but we used a gift card purchased earlier from the Marketing office in Charlottetown just in case to speed things up, though there was no wait at the tolls. No pedestrians ($4.25) or bicycles ($8.50) are physically allowed on the bridge, so there's a shuttle service (fee based) available which operates 24 hours from the Confederation Bridge Office in the Gateway Village (PEI) and the Cape Jourimain Nature Centre (NB). read more