page_title: Peace Bridge
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Peace Bridge / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Peace Bridge from Fort Erie, with new lighting retrofit
context_page_description: The Peace Bridge is an international bridge between Canada and the United States at the east end of Lake Erie at the source of the Niagara River, about 20 kilometres upriver of Niagara Falls. It connects Buffalo, New York, in the United States to Fort Erie, Ontario, in Canada. It is operated and maintained by the binational Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority.
  The Peace Bridge consists of five arched spans over the Niagara River and a Parker deck type truss span over the Black Rock Canal on the American side of the river. The length is 5,800 feet. Material used in the construction included 3,500 feet of steelwork, 9,000 tons of structural steel and 800 tons of reinforcing steel in the concrete abutments. The Peace Bridge was named to commemorate 100 years of peace between the United States and Canada. It was constructed as a highway bridge to address pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic which could not be accommodated on the International Railway Bridge, built in 1873.
context_section_description: The building of the Peace Bridge was approved by the International Joint Commission on August 6, 1925. Edward Lupfer served as chief engineer.  A major obstacle to building the bridge was the swift river current, which averages 7.5 to 12 miles per hour (12.1 to 19.3 km/h). Construction began in 1925 and was completed in the spring of 1927. On March 13, 1927, Lupfer drove the first car across the bridge. On June 1, 1927, the bridge was opened to the public.
  The official opening ceremony was held two months later, on August 7, 1927, with about 100,000 in attendance.  The festivities were transmitted to the public via radio in the first international coast-to-coast broadcast.  Newspapers at the time estimated that as many as 50 million listeners may have heard the broadcast.
  The dignitaries who took part in the dedication ceremonies included The Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII), Prince George, Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, U.S. Vice President Charles Dawes, Secretary of State Frank Kellogg, New York Governor Al Smith and Ontario Premier Howard Ferguson.
  When the bridge opened, Buffalo and Fort Erie each became the chief port of entry to their respective countries from the other. At the time it was the only vehicular bridge on the Great Lakes from Niagara Falls to New York. The bridge remains one of North America's important commercial ports with four thousand trucks crossing it daily.
  After new toll facilities were installed on the Canadian side in 2005, the Peace Bridge became the first E-ZPass facility outside the United States. There are no fees for entering the US.
caption: Peace Bridge from Fort  retrofit
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