Our bridge across the mouth of our Tidal River is the first Precast Segmental Box Girder Bridge in North America                             (info & picture below).  It was built by Beaver Marine in 1971-1972 with a length of 1998 feet. The first wooden bridge                          across the mouth of our river was built in 1865 and was known as the Ferry Bridge.

The second wooden bridge was built in 1900 and known as the Victoria Bridge (shown to the right).  Both wooden bridges had a span that opened out over a wharf-like structure that served as a guide for a ship passing through and also as an ice break.

Another major first was The Bear River Solar Aquatics, the first of its kind in Canada and winner of three international awards. 

The railroad bridge was built in 1891, completing the "Missing Link" from Annapolis to Digby.  This bridge also opened for ship traffic.  

Other interesting facts:  Bear River had a Western Union Telegraph Company in 1893.  The Union Bank, later to become the Royal Bank, was established in 1902.

The Bear River Bridge was the first precast segmental box girder bridge built in North America using the match-cast method with epoxy-coated joints.  This curved bridge is 609 m (1998 ft) long with six interior spans of 80.8 m (265 ft) and two exterior spans of 62.1 m (204 ft).  The bridge is 12 m (39.5 ft) wide.  The 145 segments were cast in a plant located near the bridge site using two short-line casting cells each producing one segment per day.