The A. Murray MacKay Bridge, known locally as "the new bridge", is a

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical ...

linking the

Halifax Peninsula The Halifax Peninsula is peninsula within the urban area of the Municipality of Halifax, Nova Scotia. History The town of Halifax was founded by the British government under the direction of the Board of Trade and Plantations under the ...

with

Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to: Places * Dartmouth, Devon, England ** Dartmouth Harbour * Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States * Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada * Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia Institutions * Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

, and opened on July 10, 1970. It is one of two suspension bridges crossing Halifax Harbour. Its counterpart, the

Angus L. Macdonald Bridge The Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is a suspension bridge crossing Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada; it opened on April 2, 1955. The bridge is one of two suspension bridges linking the Halifax Peninsula to Dartmouth in the Halifax Regional Muni ...

, was completed in 1955. The bridge carries on average 52,000 vehicle crossings per day, and is part of

Nova Scotia Highway 111 Highway 111 is a controlled-access highway in Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. Highway 111 varies in width from 4-12 lanes and is known colloquially as the Circumferential Highway, or, more recently, "the Circ", because it for ...

. As of January 3, 2022, the toll charge to cross for regular passenger vehicles is $1.25 cash, or $1.00 with the Macpass electronic toll system. Larger vehicles have higher tolls proportional to the number of axles. The Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission is exploring the idea of moving entirely to electronic tolls to avoid handling tokens or cash. The A. Murray MacKay Bridge is the only harbour bridge that permits semi-trailers and large trucks.

Pedestrians A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically. The meaning of pedestrian is displayed with t ...

and

bicycles A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-powered assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

are not permitted on the A. Murray MacKay Bridge; they may instead use dedicated lanes on the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge.

History

Construction

The bridge opened in 1970.

Financing

A decision was made to finance the construction of the bridge with low-interest loans denominated in foreign currencies, saving money in the short term and allowing the tolls to be kept low. In 1969, the bridge commission issued a 10-year bond of 100 million

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...

s in West Germany. In 1973, the bridge commission obtained a loan of C$12.2 million from a Swiss bank. However, the subsequent decline in the value of the Canadian dollar against the

German Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

and the Swiss franc cancelled out the interest cost advantage and caused a massive increase in annual debt servicing costs. At its peak, the commission's debt amounted to nearly $125 million, nearly triple the approximate $42 million combined cost of construction for both harbour bridges.

Design

The bridge measures , with the total of all suspended spans being in length, carrying four traffic lanes with posted speed limits of . It was designed with a maximum road gradient of 4 per cent. It is notable as having been the first bridge built in North America using an orthotropic steel deck, which yielded a completed structure having half the overall mass of the nearby Macdonald Bridge. The bridge's engineering also pioneered the use of wind tunnel testing, which considered the impact of winds on the structure both during construction and when complete.Norman R. Ball, senior editor, ''Building Canada: A history of public works'', Canadian Association of Public Works, University of Toronto Press, 1988, pp. 25-26

Impact on development

The building of the MacKay Bridge, along with Highway 111, initiated a development boom in Dartmouth which eclipsed that created by the Macdonald Bridge during the 1950s and 1960s. The

Burnside Business Park Burnside is a Canadian urban neighbourhood located along the northeast shore of Bedford Basin of the Halifax Regional Municipality in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. History Burnside was the name originally given to the farm of Duncan Waddell, a Scots ...

, the

Mic Mac Mall Mic Mac Mall is Atlantic Canada's largest enclosed shopping mall located in the community of Dartmouth, across the harbour from Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is owned and managed by Mic Mac Mall Limited Partnership. With stores on three levels, Mic ...

shopping centre, and several residential developments in the

Albro Lake Albro Lake is a lake of Halifax Regional Municipality, in Nova Scotia, Canada in the community of Dartmouth. The lake lends its name to the surrounding Albro Lake neighbourhood of Dartmouth. There are several public parks along the shores of t ...

neighbourhood in Dartmouth's north end during the 1970s are directly attributable to the bridge's construction.

Controversies

Africville

Political controversy preceded construction of the MacKay Bridge when the city of Halifax expropriated residents from the community of

Africville Africville was a small community of predominantly African Nova Scotians located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It developed on the southern shore of Bedford Basin and existed from the early 1800s to the 1960s. From 1970 to the present, a prot ...

near the Halifax abutment.

Proposed renaming

The bridge is named after Alexander Murray MacKay, chairman of the

Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission The Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission, operating as Halifax Harbour Bridges, is a Nova Scotia Crown corporation created in 1950 by provincial statute. It currently operates under a new statute passed in 2005 named the ''Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge ...

from 1951 to 1971 and past chief executive officer of MT&T. MacKay was instrumental in having both the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge and his namesake structure built during his tenure at the commission. Following the death of former Nova Scotia premier

Robert L. Stanfield Robert Lorne Stanfield (April 11, 1914 – December 16, 2003) was a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Nova Scotia from 1956 to 1967 and the leader of the Official Opposition and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative ...

in 2003, there was a motion made to rename the MacKay Bridge to honour Stanfield, but the Stanfield family did not want any current structures already named for persons to be changed for Stanfield's sake. In 2007, the Halifax International Airport was renamed Halifax - Robert L. Stanfield International Airport; several new schools and other institutional buildings are also under consideration for Stanfield's name.

References

External links

Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission, information on A. Murray MacKay Bridge
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Google Maps Satellite view of the MacKay Bridge

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{{DEFAULTSORT:A. Murray Mackay Bridge Buildings and structures in Halifax, Nova Scotia Road bridges in Nova Scotia Suspension bridges in Canada Bridges completed in 1970 Toll bridges in Canada Transport in Halifax, Nova Scotia