Seaway International Bridge

Not to be confused with Seaway Skyway.

North Channel Span of Seaway International Bridge
Coordinates	45.00°N 74.74°W / 45.00; -74.74
Carries	Two lanes of traffic
Crosses	St. Lawrence River
Locale	Cornwall, Ontario
Maintained by	Seaway International Bridge Corporation
Characteristics
Design	Plate girder bridge
Total length	1,652 m (5,420 ft)
Width	8.2 m (27 ft)
Height	15 ft 6 in (4.72 m)
Load limit	115,000 lb (52,000 kg)
History
Opened	2014
Statistics
Daily traffic	7,000–9,000 Cars Daily
Toll	$3.75 CDN/$3.00 USD
Location

South Channel Bridge of Three Nations Crossing
Coordinates	45°00′N 74°44′W
Carries	Two Lanes of Traffic
Crosses	St. Lawrence River
Locale	Akwesasne Mohawk Territory/Cornwall, Ontario/Massena, New York
Maintained by	Seaway International Bridge Corporation
Characteristics
Design	Suspension bridge
Total length	1,060 m (3,480 ft)
Width	8.2 m (27 ft)
Height	unknown
Longest span	275 m (902 ft)
Load limit	115,000lbs
Clearance above	35.5 m (116 ft)
History
Designer	Hugh and Philip Louis Pratley
Opened	1958
Statistics
Daily traffic	7,000–9,000 Cars Daily
Location

The Seaway International Bridge is an international crossing connecting the U.S. state of New York, Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, and the Canadian province of Ontario. It consists of the South and North Channel Bridges that originally opened in 1958, and spans the St. Lawrence Seaway. The North Channel Bridge, connecting the City of Cornwall in Ontario to Cornwall Island in Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, was rebuilt and opened in 2014.

The bridge is among the busiest on the Canada–United States border in the state of New York, with about two million crossings a year. It is jointly owned by the Federal Bridge Corporation (a Crown corporation of the Canadian federal government) and the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (an agency of the United States Department of Transportation), and is operated by the Seaway International Bridge Corporation, which came under the control of the Federal Bridge Corporation from the Saint Lawrence Seaway Authority in 1998.

History

Former high arch-truss bridge over the north channel

Previously known as the Cornwall-Massena International Bridge, the SIBC was a private bridge whose outstanding stock was purchased by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Authority (Canada) and the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (U.S.) in 1957. It was incorporated in Canada five years later.

In 2000, the international border crossing that the Seaway International Bridge comprises was named the Three Nations Crossing, in recognition that it connects the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, a self-governing nation, to the United States and Canada.

On January 24, 2014, the opening of a new lower-level bridge marked the official closing of the former high-level North Channel crossing of the Seaway International Bridge. This project was estimated to cost $75 million, entirely funded by the Government of Canada. It was announced in 2010 that the Government of Canada would be going forward with this project that would involve the construction of a new low-level bridge as well as the demolition of the Seaway International Bridge to ensure the longevity of the border crossing, assuring that the former bridge was still in safe driving condition. The high-level Seaway International Bridge was completely demolished in 2015. At the opening ceremony of the new bridge, the first person to make the crossing was Raymonde Champagne, who had also been the first person to cross the high-level bridge in 1962.

Border crossing

Main article: Three Nations Crossing

The Three Nations Crossing is the border crossing associated with the Seaway International Bridge. It was named in 2000, in honor of the Mohawk of Akwesasne, a federally recognized tribe in the United States and First Nation in Canada. Their reserve extends across the international border, in addition to that between Quebec and Ontario. Most of the land is in New York, United States.

See also

• List of crossings of the Saint Lawrence River
• Cornwall Island (Ontario)

External links

• Media related to Seaway International Bridge at Wikimedia Commons
• Seaway International Bridge Corporation