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Peace Bridge & Dove
Date Issued: 1977-08-04
Postage Value: 13 cents

Commemorative issue
Peace Bridge 50th anniversary
Peace Bridge & Dove

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 (12.4 mi) upriver of Niagara Falls. It connects the City of Buffalo, NY, in the United States to the Town of Fort Erie, Ontario, in Canada. It is operated and maintained by the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority.

The Peace Bridge consists of five arched spans over the Niagara River and a Parker through-truss span over the Black Rock Canal on the American side of the river. The total length is 5,800 feet (1,768 m). Material used in the construction included 3,500 feet (1,067 m) 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 the needs of pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic which could not be accommodated on the International Railway Bridge, built in 1873.

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 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 approximately 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 Minnesota. 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 (and at present the only) E-ZPass facility outside the United States.
 

Topics: Bird (309)  Bridge (34)  

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