The Macdonald Bridge Big Lift: rebuilding a bridge while the city crossed
The Big Lift replaced almost everything hanging from the cables of the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge in Halifax while it stayed open. Work began in March 2015, and the 46th and final deck segment went in on 26 February 2017.
Angus L. Macdonald never crossed the bridge that carries his name. The premier of Nova Scotia died in office on 13 April 1954, at 63, less than a year before it opened. Sixty years later, his bridge faced a huge job: almost everything hanging from its cables had to be replaced, while tens of thousands of people still needed to cross it every workday.
When did the Macdonald Bridge open?
The Angus L. Macdonald Bridge opened on 2 April 1955 and gave Halifax and Dartmouth their first road link across the harbour. Its designer, Philip Pratley, also designed the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, and the two look like sisters.
By the 2010s the deck was worn out. The job to replace it got a nickname: the Big Lift.
So how do you replace a bridge without closing it? Piece by piece, at night and on weekends.
How was the Big Lift done?
Work began in March 2015. Crews cut the old suspended structure into sections, lowered them onto trucks or barges, and used lifting gantries to raise new sections into the gaps. The first new deck segment went in during October 2015.
High winds and bad weather slowed the work. Then, on 26 February 2017, crews set the 46th and final deck segment in place, in time for the Monday commute.
It was only the second time a suspension bridge had its suspended spans replaced while it stayed open to traffic. The first was Pratley’s Lions Gate Bridge, about 15 years earlier. The road deck, trusses and suspender ropes are new along 2,500 feet of the 4,418-foot bridge. The towers and main cables are the originals.
When did the Macdonald Bridge tolls end?
The tolls came off on 17 March 2025, 70 years after they began. Drivers now ride on a deck built after 2015, held up by the same towers and cables that were there the spring his bridge first opened.
Quick facts
- Opened
- 2 April 1955
- Named for
- Premier Angus L. Macdonald, who died 13 April 1954
- Designer
- Philip Pratley
- Big Lift
- March 2015 to 26 February 2017
- Deck segments
- 46
- Length
- 4,418 feet
- Tolls removed
- 17 March 2025
