page_title: Confederation Bridge
section_title: Naming
hierarchical_section_title: Confederation Bridge / Bridge development / Naming
caption_attribution_description: Confederation Bridge
context_page_description: The Confederation Bridge is a box girder bridge carrying the Trans-Canada Highway across the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait, linking the province of Prince Edward Island with the province New Brunswick on the mainland. Opened May 31, 1997, the 12.9-kilometre bridge is Canada's longest bridge and also the world's longest bridge over ice-covered water.
  Construction took place from October 1993 to May 1997 and cost C$1.3 billion. Before its official naming, Prince Edward Islanders often referred to the bridge as the "Fixed Link". It officially opened to traffic on May 31, 1997.
context_section_description: Throughout construction, the federal government received suggestions for names and on September 27, 1996, the name "Confederation Bridge" was chosen.
  This name is not without controversy as many Islanders feel the word "Confederation" is overused throughout the province, finding use in the name of a Northumberland Ferries Limited vessel (M/V Confederation), a performing arts centre and art gallery (Confederation Centre of the Arts), a shopping centre (Confederation Court Mall), and the province-wide rails to trails system (Confederation Trail), as well as in tourism promotions (e.g., "Birthplace of Confederation"). The preference of Islanders was reportedly to use the name "Abegweit Crossing" which would pay homage to the Abegweit Passage, the vessel M/V Abegweit which the bridge would replace, and to the Mi'kmaq traditional name for the province.
  The President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, during a state visit to Canada in 1998, referred to the bridge as the "Span of Green Gables".
caption: The bridge from ground level on the New Brunswick side
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