The Saint John Harbour Bridge Authority was a New Brunswick Crown corporation created to build and operate the Saint John Harbour Bridge, a three-span crossing of Saint John Harbour at the mouth of the Saint John River in Saint John, New Brunswick. The bridge opened to traffic on August 17, 1968, as part of the Saint John Throughway project. The Authority was dissolved at 7 p.m. on March 31, 2011, under provincial legislation, with its assets transferred to the Crown in right of the Province of New Brunswick.
Design and History
The Authority’s visual identity was a stylized letter “B”, as documented by the Flags of the World vexillological reference, which describes the mark as a stylized letter B used on the Authority’s flag. The flag flew next to the toll bridge, with the logo’s size on the flag approximate. The flag image was recorded by Luc Baronian in June 2005. [1]
The logo database LogosBrands attributes the original symbol to J C Stackhouse Studios, with a design date of 1966. The same source categorizes the mark as an arrow-style logo within a circular format. [2] However, no primary or archival source has been located that independently verifies this designer attribution or the specific design date, so the attribution should be treated with caution.
The Authority was constituted as a body politic and corporate under An Act to Establish a Harbour Bridge Authority in The City of Saint John, chapter 150 of the Acts of New Brunswick, 1961-62. The memorandum of agreement governing the bridge, known as the “Saint John Harbour Bridge Authority Agreement,” was made on July 7, 1966, between the Crown in right of Canada, the Crown in right of New Brunswick, The City of Saint John, and the Authority. [3]
Following the Authority’s dissolution in 2011, management of the bridge was placed under the New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
No official documentation has been located that explains the intended symbolism of the stylized letter “B” mark. The letter likely references the word “Bridge” in the Authority’s name, but this is an inference rather than a documented fact. The mark’s circular, arrow-like form, as categorized by LogosBrands, suggests a mid-century graphic design approach, but no primary source confirms a specific symbolic meaning. [2]
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