In 2010 planning began that would see the entire suspended structure of Halifax’s Macdonald Bridge replaced over the course of several years. With the size and scope of such a monumental task, it was dubbed the Big Lift. But it wasn’t just the size of the project that was to make it historical, it was also the engineering. The Big Lift would only be the second time in history the suspended spans of a suspension bridge would be replaced while keeping the bridge open to traffic. Interestingly enough, the first time this feat was completed was on the Lion’s Gate Bridge, the Macdonald Bridge’s sister bridge in Vancouver, 15 years before the Big Lift.

Over it’s duration the Big Lift would see the complete replacement of the road deck, floor beams, stiffening trusses and suspender ropes on the suspended spans (2,500 ft of the overall 4,418 ft length) of the Macdonald Bridge. Now complete, much of the bridge infrastructure is new, leaving only the towers, main cables and anchorages on the suspended spans as original.