Saint John Harbour Bridge to receive $15-million facelift

The federal and New Brunswick governments have announced $15 million for upgrades and repairs to the Saint John Harbour Bridge.

The New Brunswick government announced Tuesday it will spend up to $7.7 million to complete the remaining phases of the upgrade. That’s in addition to $7.3 million from the federal government’s National Trade Corridors Fund.

Calling the Saint John Harbour Bridge “a critical piece of infrastructure along a major transportation link,” Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Jeff Carr said the upgrades are “vital to the movement of goods and services through our province and beyond.”

“We want to ensure we are doing all we can to manage our infrastructure and that includes working in partnership with the federal government, one of our key stakeholders, on upgrades to the bridge,” said Carr.

The province says the ongoing upgrades will help extend the life of the bridge.

Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra indicated these repairs will help “alleviate the congestion issues the region is currently experiencing” when it comes to New Brunswick’s trade capacity.

According to the province, the Saint John Harbour Bridge is one of the largest structures currently maintained by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.

The Saint John Harbour Bridge rehabilitation project, which started in 2021, is expected to cost more than $26 million and is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2026.

The four-lane bridge will be cut down to two lanes beginning in early April in order to complete its renovations.