Harper calls Sault bridge plaza 'essential' (20 photos)

While Prime Minister Stephen Harper didn't say how much the federal government will be putting up for the new bridge plaza in Sault Ste. Marie, he did say it's an essential project and it will be funded.

In an announcement today in Sault Ste. Marie, Harper said the project is important, not just as infrastructure but aslsp as a project that brings Canada together with one of its most important trade partners.

"The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge first opened on October 31 in 1962," Harper said. "It was hailed as a symbol of unity and friendship between nations."

Now, 47 years later, the Canadian side is about to get a facelift that's worth more than double the cost to build the bridge in the first place.

"It was built for $20 million," said Phil Becker, general manager of the International Bridge Administration. "This is historic. It is the beginning of the biggest capital project in the bridge's history."

In 2005, the new $18 million bridge plaza opened in the Michigan Sault and that project was funded by the U.S. federal government.

That, and the Ontario Sault bridge plaza expansion, are part of a larger 10-year plan undertaken by the St. Mary's River Bridge Company and Michigan Department of Transportation (co-owners of the bridge) and by the International Bridge Administration, which manages the bridge for its owners.

This plan also includes repainting and repaving the bridge as well as other upgrades to the actual structure.

"We have now purchased some property and done some environmental investigation, so it's ready to go as we speak," said Becker. "This is a great day, not only for the bridge but for the bi-national community. I'm just so thankful for all of the efforts by so many people that brought us to this point. It makes me tingle all over!"

Money from the federal government's stimulus fund has been allocated to the St. Mary's River Bridge Company to build the new bridge plaza.

Glenn Hewus, senior vice-president of engineering and construction for the Federal Bridge Corporation Ltd., will be the lead on the project.

"In dollar terms, I think it's in the neighbourhood of about $44 million," Hewus said after the prime minister's announcement.

"It is a complete re-development of the Canadian plaza and the customs facilities in both commercial and traffic and the booths that you see in there now," he said. "It will be up to scratch with the latest statement of requirements from CBSA [Canadian Border Services Agency]."

Hewus said the project is expected to be essentially complete by December 2013 and fully complete by March 2014.

He also affirmed the prime minister's assertion that this project will make the flow of traffic and goods across the bridge much more efficient and effective.

Initially, the project will move forward with demolition of a row of houses on Queen Street West that the St. Mary's River Bridge Company purchased to make way for the planned plaza.

That work can be expected to start within a few weeks.

Following that, some temporary structures will be erected and the project will be ready to go to tender in the new year, Hewus said.