The International Avenue Bridge is an international

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

across the St. Croix River, connecting the town of

St. Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) 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. It is the only province with both English and ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

with the town of

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is the third, busiest, and newest bridge connecting the two communities, in addition to the

Ferry Point International Bridge The Ferry Point International Bridge is an international bridge, which connects St. Stephen, New Brunswick in Canada and Calais, Maine in the United States, across the St. Croix River. The bridge connects the two cities' downtowns. St. Stephen i ...

and the

Milltown International Bridge The Milltown International Bridge is an international bridge and the main link of the Calais–Milltown Border Crossing, which connects St. Stephen, New Brunswick, in Canada and Calais, Maine, in the United States, across the St. Croix River. I ...

. The International Avenue Bridge serves commercial, cargo,

trucking Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations e ...

, passenger vehicles, campers, RVs, buses and other heavy and through traffic, while both the Ferry Point and Milltown crossings remain in use for passenger vehicles and local traffic, which could also use the International Avenue Bridge."Importance of trade corridor recognized"
''

The Telegraph-Journal The ''Telegraph-Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It serves as both a provincial daily and as a local newspaper for Saint John. The newspaper is published by Brunswick News. The ''Telegraph-Journal'' i ...

'', January 9, 2010.

Border crossing

The International Avenue Border Crossing connects the towns of

Calais, Maine Calais is a city in Washington County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 3,079, making Calais the third least-populous city in Maine (after Hallowell and Eastport). The city has three Canada–US border cro ...

and

St. Stephen, New Brunswick St. Stephen (2016 population: 4,415) is a Canadian town in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, situated on the east bank of the St. Croix River around the intersection of New Brunswick Route 170 and the southern terminus of New Brunswick Route ...

via the International Avenue Bridge. The opening of the crossing in 2009 marked the first time since 1961 (when the Union Bridge was closed) that there have been three bridges connecting Calais with St. Stephen. Currently, all commercial vehicles crossing between these towns must use this crossing.

History

The bridge received US approval in 2006. Although both facilities began actual operations with the bridge opening on November 16, 2009, the

United States Customs United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facili ...

facility in Calais was officially opened by Senator

Susan Collins Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Co ...

on November 23,"Calais border crossing officially opened"
''

Bangor Daily News The ''Bangor Daily News'' is an American newspaper covering a large portion of central and eastern Maine, published six days per week in Bangor, Maine. The ''Bangor Daily News'' was founded on June 18, 1889; it merged with the ''Bangor Whig and ...

'', November 24, 2009. while the

Canada Customs The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and cus ...

facility in St. Stephen was officially opened by Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

on January 8, 2010. The new bridge represents the first new Canada–US border crossing between the US and Canada in over 40 years.

Connecting routes

On the New Brunswick side, since October 2012, the bridge connects to

New Brunswick Route 1 Route 1 is a highway in the southern part of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It begins in the west from the Canada–United States border at St. Stephen, and runs east for to Route 2 at River Glade. The entire highway is a 4-lane con ...

, a four-lane freeway proceeding northeast from the border, through Saint John, and connecting with

New Brunswick Route 2 Route 2 is a major provincial highway in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, carrying the main route of the Trans-Canada Highway in the province. The highway connects with Autoroute 85 at the border with Quebec and Highway 104 at the border w ...

, the main route of the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

, at River Glade near

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

. In Maine, the bridge connects to

US 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

, a major route along Maine's Atlantic coast and its border areas with New Brunswick; and

Maine State Route 9 State Route 9 (SR 9) is a numbered state highway in Maine, running from the New Hampshire border at Berwick in the west to the Canada–US border with New Brunswick at Calais in the east. SR 9 runs a total of . Route description Sta ...

, a link to

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

at Bangor.

References

{{reflist Road bridges in New Brunswick Canada–United States bridges Buildings and structures in Calais, Maine St. Stephen, New Brunswick International bridges in Maine Bridges completed in 2009 Transportation buildings and structures in Washington County, Maine Buildings and structures in Charlotte County, New Brunswick Transport in Charlotte County, New Brunswick Road bridges in Maine 2009 establishments in Maine 2009 establishments in New Brunswick