There is no plan to build a third Halifax Harbour crossing, despite a rumour that a new one is under consideration.

Steve Snider, chief executive officer and general manager of Halifax Harbour Bridges, says he doesn’t know how the latest rumour got started. But he suggested perhaps it could have been based on a 2008 study still posted on his organization’s website.

A few years ago, Snider’s organization investigated building either another bridge or a tunnel across the harbour. It would have meant spending $1 billion or more.

After a strongly negative public response, the idea was scratched.

However, provincially controlled Halifax Harbour Bridges is planning to spend about $200 million to replace the suspended span on the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge, which opened to traffic in 1955.

Snider says the design work is underway, and the final design is expected to be available at about this time next year.

Construction should begin in early 2015 and end in late 2016.

The disruption on what is normally referred to as “the old bridge” may be necessary, but it could also be a major headache that disrupts the normal flow of commercial activity in the provincial capital.

Doing the job right and on time is essential.

Snider says Halifax Harbour Bridges managers are in discussions with the province on how to proceed with the financing.

“We went to the market back in 1997 when we widened the Macdonald bridge to three lanes and redecked the approaches.

“We did a $100-million, toll-revenue bond. That was a 10-year bond and it matured in 2007.”

Instead of going to the public markets again to refinance the bond in 2007, Snider says the provincial government picked up the financing for the harbour bridges.

The indenture with the provincial government was in the form of a 12-year term, running from 2007 to 2019.

Snider says the interest rate the provincial government charges on the bridge debt changes from year to year, but it is several basis points above the provincial cost of borrowing.

“The average cost was just over five per cent, and for 2007, that was a pretty good rate. From our perspective, it is the most cost-effective option.”

Halifax Harbour Bridges is in talks with the province about financing the renovations again this time. The maximum borrowing amount is in the range of $145 million, Snider says, while the remaining cost of the work will be financed through cash flow.

The hike in bridge tolls over the past couple of years was designed to help pay the cost of replacing many of the bridge’s major components.

Clearance under the bridge at centre span is 46.9 metres. The refurbishment, which includes replacing the road deck and floor beams, and stiffening trusses and suspender ropes, will raise the clearance height at centre span by about half a metre.

To allow larger container vessels to pass under the bridge, changes could be built into the plans that would raise the bridge to a total of 49 metres, Snider says.

Who knows how tall the mega container ships of the future will be, so raising the clearance under the bridge is likely to be a guessing game right now.

Raising the bridge clearance has been estimated to cost an extra $1.5 million or more, depending on who you ask. But Snider says the Halifax Port Authority, the federal agency responsible for administering Halifax Harbour, has indicated it will pick up the extra cost.

Also, the extra clearance on the Macdonald isn’t much good unless the A. Murray MacKay Bridge is also raised from its existing clearance of 46.9 metres at centre span.

So be warned, Halifax Harbour Bridges is already planning for a major MacKay refit in the not-too-distant future.

(rtaylor@herald.ca)