'You wouldn't say this bridge is showing its age at all': Confederation Bridge in good shape

It may seem a little odd to even wonderhow well a 20-year-oldis aging. After all, most 20-somethings are really just entering their prime.

But most 20-year-olds haven'tled quite as hard alife as theConfederation Bridge, not by a long shot. In its first two decades, the bridge has beenrun over by cars and trucks millions of times, attacked by hurricane force winds,and pounded with waves and ice winter after winter.

• Tackling tolls: Could Confederation Bridge ever be free to cross?
• Building Confederation Bridge: The project director looks back 20 years later

So, you can forgive the look of pride on Donald McGinn's face as hepoints out just how shiny and new his favourite fixed linkstill looksafter all these years.

"You can still see there's a reflection off the steel form surface of the concrete," saidMcGinn, Strait Crossing's Ddirector of maintenance and engineering.

"You wouldn't expect to see that reflectionin five years time, or on most bridges, even three years time. So, to think that 20 years later, we still see that reflection, you wouldn't say this bridge is showing its age at all."

No safety concerns

Of course, a shiny surface aloneisn't enough to declare the 13 kilometrebridge is in tip-top shape. That declaration only comes after the bridge's annual spring check up: a two-week long inspection of every pier, joint, and cubic metre of concrete.

It'sexactly what McGinn anda team of engineers did in late May.

• Your P.E.I.: Confederation Bridge turns 20
• 'It's really surreal': Bridge employee reminisces about the end of one era and beginning of another

"We're going over the side of the bridge, and we're looking at the outside surface," explainedEileen McEwen, an independent engineer hired by the federal government to be a part of the inspection. "So, we're looking for rust here and there, where the concrete and the form work may have slipped a little bit."

McEwen says the bridge is showing some signs of aging that much is inevitable. But in 20years, she says inspectors haven't found any major causes for concern.

"There's little things like rustmarks that start coming up as the wind and rain and salt get into the concrete," she said. "And with age, concrete in general tends to wear a little bit. So we watch that, and monitor that. But 20 years in, those things are definitely easily maintained, and they're not safety concerns."

The small little bits that require any work, it's incredible. It's all done very well.- Donald McGinn, Strait Crossing Director of Maintenance and Engineering

McGinn, who has been working on the Confederation Bridge "since it was just a drawing on a piece of paper," says every year, he's more impressed bythe bridge's condition.

"For the size and scale of it 13 km of bridge, 340,000 cubic metres of concrete, the miles of square metres of surfaces we have that's a lot of area," said McGinn. "And the small little bits that require any work, it's incredible. It's all done very well."

Bridge's design helping to keep it young

McGinn says a lot of people can take credit for the bridge's condition: its maintenance staff, its builders, and its team of design engineers, including Eric Tromposch.

• Then and now: P.E.I. in 1997 and 2017
• 20 years after the bridge, Borden-Carleton aims to rebuild

In the early 1990's, Tromposch says his team was handed a daunting challenge by the federal government: design a 13 kilometre bridge durable enough to handle the Northumberland Strait's harsh weather conditions and ice covered waters, for at least 100 years.

"Even just that design life wasunique at the time. Typical bridge codes were only based on a 50 year design life," said Tromposch. "And then the ice loads, that was a big challenge. I think we just about had every ice expert in the world working at one point in time. So coming up with those loads based on a 100 year design life was a big task."

I think we just about had every ice expert in the world working at one point in time.- Eric Tromposch, Design Engineer

They did it with the help of several unique materials and design approaches: from specially designed steel ice shields to protect the bridge's piers, to a high performance concrete.

"We had to create a structure that would resist corrosion, resist chloride penetration from the sea water," said Tromposch. "So we were very careful in selecting the materials that went into the concrete, to make sure we had something that was very sound and durable."

Engineers say climate change not a threat to bridge

It all has today's inspectors confidentthe bridge may outlive its 100 yearshelf life. Not even the unpredictability of climate change, and thethreat of more intense storms in the years ahead, has them concerned in the least bit.

"As we get bigger and bigger storms for wind and weather, the bridge has substantial capacity to weather them. So in terms of climate change, the bridge is in a good spot," assuredEileen McEwen.

"It's like your own child when you've been involved for this length of time," added McGinn. "You've seen them as a child grow up, and they're at that point now, where you know they're going to turn out okay."

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | In with the new: College of Piping performance space taking shape
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | Island tourism operators predicting Canada 150 will make for 'banner' season