Skip to main content

A thousand birthday greetings for US-Canada Thousand Island Bridge

The Canada-US Thousand Island Bridge system celebrated its 80th birthday in August with presentations and an open house at its US headquarters. The 33.7km three-bridge system over the St Lawrence River took 16 months to build and was completed 10 weeks ahead of schedule. It runs from Collins Landing near Alexandria Bay in the US state of New York to the small town of Ivy Lea in the Canadian province of Ontario. The system connects US Interstate 81 and Canada’s Highway 401, a major motorway between Montre
August 21, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
The Canada-US Thousand Island Bridge system celebrated its 80th birthday in August with presentations and an open house at its US headquarters.


The 33.7km three-bridge system over the St Lawrence River took 16 months to build and was completed 10 weeks ahead of schedule. It runs from Collins Landing near Alexandria Bay in the US state of New York to the small town of Ivy Lea in the Canadian province of Ontario. The system connects US Interstate 81 and Canada’s Highway 401, a major motorway between Montreal and Toronto, ending in Windsor on the Ontario border with the US state of Michigan.

The 1,370m crossing over the American channel of the river - from the US mainland to Wellesley Island - consists of a suspension bridge with a main span of around 245m and nearly 46m of clearance above the river.

The Canadian crossing includes the 183m continuous Warren Truss span connecting Hill Island to Constance Island, a steel arch of 106m spans from Constance Island to Georgina Island and a suspension bridge of 229m from Georgina Island to the Canadian mainland. The Canadian span from abutment to abutment is 1,015m and the suspension span provides 37m of river clearance.

The boundary at the International Rift boundary – the channel between Wellesley Island and Hill Island - is bridged by two parallel 27.4m rigid-frame arched spans of reinforced concrete with masonry facing. Originally there was only one bridge at boundary but due to increased traffic it was twinned in 1959.

Operation of the Thousand Islands Bridge system is shared under a joint agreement that created the US based Thousand Islands Bridge Authority which estimates that there are 2,000 vehicle-cross the annually. The system’s original consulting engineer was Robinson and Steinman of New York City that  continues to do so today but as 3220 Parsons Transportation, notes the authority.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Ohio River Crossing tender opening
    November 1, 2021
    The tender process is opening for the Ohio River Crossing.
  • Island Roads is on the march along the UK’s Isle of Wight
    November 21, 2018
    Ringway Island Roads recently completed a major 12km upgrade to one of the UK’s most iconic roads. The upgrade to the Military Road, on the Isle of Wight in the English channel, is the largest carriageway improvement project delivered in a single scheme by Ringways’ Island Roads division. The project was part of the Isle of Wight’s Highway Improvement Programme which is financed in the main through a grant of €535 million awarded by the UK’s Department for Transport. The section between the villages
  • Major Central American infrastructure projects
    February 23, 2012
    Mexico and Central America are home to some of the world's most spectacular infrastructure projects as Patrick Smith reports
  • Bertha ends her Alaskan Way voyage in Seattle
    December 21, 2017
    Seattle's State Route 99 viaduct is coming down. David Arminas was on site. Bertha, the world’s largest diameter earth pressure balance tunnel boring machine, with a cutterhead diameter of 17.5m, is no more. Her 2.7km journey underneath the waterfront area of Seattle finished on April 4 and the power went off for the last time on an extraordinary TBM that had finally completed an extraordinary job. “A small sidewalk job would have had more impact on city traffic than we have had,” says Brian Russell a v