It will forever be known as the International Bridge, an arch of concrete that will span the St. Croix River, connecting Calais, Maine to St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada.
For both areas, especially New Brunswick, it will mean a culmination of a huge infrastructure investment of highways, bridges and commercial access/travel arteries connecting Canada to points south.
The Calais St. Stephen International Bridge is many things, but foremost, the construction of a new 561.7-ft. (171.2 m) concrete bridge located over the St. Croix River.
The massive international project involves building much more than the bridge itself. It will completely open up the corner of eastern Maine into Canada, leading to and from a new four-lane road that soon will connect the New Brunswick cities of St. John and St. Stephen.
“This is the first time in many years that a new border crossing is being constructed between the United States and Canada, so numerous items had to be discussed and solved, issues like taxation, security, worker issues, and environmental regulations for each country,” said Carl Dodge Sr., senior technician of the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) Bridge Program.
Coordination of the various aspects of the projects was of paramount concern.
“Currently, there are two large projects ongoing in relatively close proximity of each other,” added Dodge.
“The GSA New Border Crossing Facility project will begin construction and will occur between the bridge and road projects. Coordination among all three prime contractors will be crucial to the timely completion of all three projects. All three of the projects are scheduled to be completed within three months of each other.”
Numerous other challenges appear as the work progresses that are beyond the scope of normal construction issues, and these are dealt with on a daily basis, said Dodge.
The direct economic impact of the project on eastern Washington County and Charlotte County in New Brunswick over the next few years will be considerable. The bridge portion of the project, to be paid for on a 50/50 basis by New Brunswick and Maine, will be a $10 million investment.
Roadway improvements in the nearby Calais Industrial Park and along Route 1 in Calais will total another $11 million.
The new border facility, to be constructed by GSA, will be laid out on 50 acres (20 ha) and is estimated to cost more than $40 million.
A Massachusetts construction company has won a $48.3 million contract for a new border crossing in Calais.
The GSA announced that J.J. Contractors Inc. of Lowell, Mass., will build the Land Port of Entry for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection.
“Our vision is a facility that embodies the spirit of the United States as welcoming and secure, now and in the future,” said Dennis Smith, regional GSA administrator.
Work is due to begin in February on the project.
“The design of the new Calais Land Port of Entry will increase border security while easing the free flow of goods and people,” Smith said.
In New Brunswick, the roadway improvements by New Brunswick Department of Transportation (NBDOT) are expected to cost $53 million, while the new customs facility will be a $13 million investment. Taken together, the total economic impact of this project will easily exceed $120 million. It also is expected that some 50 jobs will be added at the new U.S. border station.
New Bridge, New Highways, Better Commerce
When finished, Calais will have a new border crossing with extensive wetland mitigation and the reconstruction of approximately 3,757 ft. (1,145 m) of U.S. Route 1, including construction of a roundabout for the entrance from the new Border Station Crossing Road (BSCR) to Route 1.
This includes a new Border Station Access road from Route 1 to the new Border Station facility, a span of approximately 1,234 ft. (376 m) in length, long with the construction of a new Industrial Park Access Road (IPAR) approximately 164 ft. (550 m) in length.
Included in the new construction of the BSCR and IPAR are two small bridges or overpasses, which cross the Maine Central railroad tracks.
In addition, the project includes the construction of a mitigation site of approximately 8.2 acres (3.3 ha), located between the new Border Station Crossing Facility and the Calais Water District.
When finished, the International Bridge will be a new 562-ft. (171.2 m) long concrete bridge with two abutments — one founded on ledge and the second on piles driven to bedrock. The piers sustaining it also are constructed on bedrock.
The deck is cast in-place on 1800 NEBT pre-cast girders. Approximately 13,973 cu. yd. (10,688 cu m) of concrete will be placed for this work and also 2,354 cu. yd. (1,800 cu m) of material excavated.
The final approach work to the bridge will be constructed by GSA’s New Border Station contractor and Public Works Canada New Border Station contractor. The cost of this project is split between the state of Maine and province of New Brunswick.
The Calais New Border Crossing and wetland mitigation will involve approximately 33,876 cu. yd. (25,900 cu m) of excavation, 8,763 cu. yd. (67,000 cu m) of fill 11.2 tons (10 t) of hot mix asphalt, drainage, guardrail and other incidentals. The two structures are placed on piles driven to bedrock behind mechanically-stabilized earth walls. Pre-stressed structural concrete box beams are placed on the deck on cast-in-place seats.
24 Hours a Day
Bid letting on the Calais St. Stephen International Bridge opened in October 2006, with the winning bid going to Cianbro Corp. of Pittsfield, Maine, at $11.580 million and construction beginning in February 2007. A completion date of September 2008 had been set.
Bid letting on the new Calais border crossing and wetlands mitigation opened in December 2006 and was awarded to Fundy Contractors Inc. of Maine and New Brunswick at $9.33 million, with construction beginning in April 2007 and a completion date of October 2008. Both contractors were the lowest bidders.
There are numerous subcontractors working on both projects, including some from Canada working on the Canadian side of things. Numerous shifts, 24 hours a day, starting at Monday at 6 a.m. and shutting down work on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. have been in place for the bridge project, according to Dodge.
For the forming and reinforcing of the steel, there are two 12-hour shifts per day, with varying numbers of workers at any given time.
“Also, there is a civil crew responsible for excavation and each of these crews work 12 hours a day,” said Dodge.
“Crew sizes and durations change due to warranting conditions. It is currently anticipated that work will shut down possibly in January for the winter season.”
For the border crossing, prime contractors and subcontractors work Monday through Friday, for 12-hour days. Some Saturdays are worked as required. Crew sizes change due to conditions. It is anticipated to shut this project down for the winter starting in November.
“The new border crossing will alleviate the traffic issues involved in crossing the border at the two existing crossing locations. Currently, long traffic delays frequently occur at the crossing points,” said Dodge.
Court Rules in Favor of Project
Earlier this year, a Maine environmental group calling themselves the Friends of Magurrewock tried to halt construction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ new $120 million International Bridge in Calais. But U.S. District Judge John Woodcock denied the Friends of Magurrewock’s motion for a preliminary injunction to restart the siting process. A hearing on the motion was held June 15 in U.S. District Court in Bangor.
In his 22-page ruling, Woodcock said the group did not prove that the decision to locate the bridge in Calais instead of Baileyville was arbitrary or capricious, the standard required for the Friends to succeed.
The judge also said it was within the Army Corps’ discretion to accept the state Department of Transportation’s assertion that completion of a new bridge would not require widening the portion of U.S. Route 1 through the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge.
The Friends had filed the lawsuit in April after construction work on the new bridge had started. The group claimed that federal and state officials had not followed the required guidelines in selecting the current site in Calais instead of an alternative location in Baileyville.
The group also argued that the Corps should have conducted an environmental impact study rather than accepting MaineDOT’s contention that Route 1 would not have to be widened through the refuge to compensate for increased traffic to and from the bridge before 2030.
“The Corps concluded that the new border crossing would stand alone as an improvement to the status quo by diverting traffic from downtown Calais,” the judge said in his ruling, “providing more space to conduct customs inspections and lubricating the flow of commerce between Canada and the United States.”
Towns Now Joined
Calais has historically been a city of commerce and is recognized as the primary shopping center of eastern Washington County and Charlotte County, New Brunswick. Currently, retail service and construction businesses are the primary components of the Calais economy.
Calais is home to 3,447 residents and services a regional population of 15,000. The town has worked to bolster its economy by revitalization of its downtown and development of an industrial park complete with sewer, water, three-phase power and transportation facilities. Calais is designated as a HUB Zone for economic development.
By all accounts, it has a remarkable endowment of historic buildings and natural beauty. The quality of life is further enhanced by the availability of an array of community facilities including a regional hospital, Washington County Community College (formerly WCTC), University of Maine Center, numerous parks and recreational facilities.
The contract in Calais also includes work on two wetland mitigation areas included in the project in exchange for wetlands disturbed during highway construction activities.
The first mitigation area is an 8.2-acre site adjacent to the bridge project.
“We’re going to acquire it from the water district and redevelop it to make it a better site for wetland plants and animals,” Dodge said.
The second mitigation area, approximately 178 acres on Hardscrabble Road, abuts the Mooshorn National Wildlife Refuge.
New Brunswick’s population is approximately 750,000, while Maine’s population sits at approximately 1.2 million.
Among New Brunswick’s road priorities is the twinning of Route 1 — the road that leads to Calais and the new bridge. New Brunswick started years ahead of Maine, and except for two sections, the road in nearly completed.
$414 Million to Build Roads
One official said the province plans to spend $414 million over the next 10 years to fix and build roads throughout the province. As of this writing, the MaineDOT has nearly completed reconstructing Route 1 on the Maine side to accommodate the new bridge.
“Bringing the Calais Border Crossing Project successfully to construction was one of Governor John E. Baldacci’s top priorities for the department when I was appointed commissioner,” MaineDOT Commissioner David Cole said earlier this year.
“A modern and efficient border crossing will be a major new asset for Maine’s east-west transportation corridor and the regional economy on both sides of the border,” added Baldacci.
“The Calais Project is coming together because of the efforts of many people in Maine and New Brunswick. We especially need to thank Maine’s congressional delegation, who helped bring the federal funding needed to build the new facilities. I also want to thank the government of New Brunswick and the city of St. Stephen for their part in making this project reality.”
Construction of the new bridge is the culmination of an exhaustive planning and project-development process that began in 1999 and involved dozens of agencies on both sides of the border.
“To say that we have jumped through a few hoops to reach this point would be an understatement,” said Cole. “Over the last few years, we’ve received the sign-offs that were needed from many different agencies in order to build this first new stand-alone border crossing on the U.S./Canadian border in more than 30 years.” CEG
