CLAIRE, N.B. -- The plans for a new international bridge connecting Clair, N.B., to Fort Kent, Maine have been finalized and bidding to lead the project is about to open.

The project will be open to contractors in both New Brunswick and Maine. Bids will be accepted through the month of August.

The bridge is the only one connecting the Fort Kent and Clair regions, and is a key economic crossing, saving long-haul truckers a round-trip, 64-kilometre detour to Edmundston.

The old bridge, which last year was found to be unsafe, will be removed at the shared expense of both New Brunswick and Maine. A 2.7-tonne weight restriction was put in place in January, forcing truckers to make the trip to Madawaska in order to cross into Canada. It reopened to traffic in February with automated signs allowing two-way traffic for cars and one-way traffic for trucks heavier than 3.6 tonnes.

Sarah Ketcheson, a spokeswoman for the New Brunswick Department of Transportation would not discuss cost estimates for either the demolition or the construction, saying she did not want to influence the bidding process.

The project will take three construction seasons, Ketcheson said, and is scheduled for completion in 2013. Consisting of a four-span steel-beam structure, the new bridge will be built alongside the existing 80-year-old bridge, which will be torn down upon completion of the new link.