metropolitan area. The Irving operations are concentrated in the Dieppe Industrial Park. Maple Leaf Foods is a major employer in the city and is in the Moncton Industrial Park. Molson/Coors opened a brewery in the Caledonia Industrial Park in 2007, their first new brewery in over fifty years. All three industrial parks also have large concentrations of warehousing and regional trucking facilities.
A new four-lane Gunningsville Bridge was opened in 2005, connecting downtown Riverviewdirectly with downtown Moncton. On the Moncton side, the bridge connects with an extension of Vaughan Harvey Boulevard as well as to Assumption Boulevard and will serve as a catalyst for economic growth in the downtown area. This has become already evident as an expansion to the Blue Cross Centre was completed in 2006 and a new Marriott Residence Inn opened in 2008. The new regional law courts on Assumption Blvd opened in 2011. Momentum is also building for a new downtown 9-10,000 seat multipurpose events centre and arena. On the Riverview side, the Gunningsville Bridge now connects to a new ring road around the town and is expected to serve as a catalyst for development in east Riverview.
The retail sector in Moncton has become one of the most important pillars of the local economy. Major retail projects such as Champlain Place in Dieppe and the Wheeler Park Power Centre on Trinity Drive have become major destinations for locals and for tourists alike. Champlain Place has recently undergone a $14 million renovation and a new power centre is under construction on Mapleton road, adjacent to Wheeler Park.
Tourism is an important industry in Moncton and historically owes its origins to the presence of two natural attractions, the tidal bore of the Petitcodiac River (see above) and the optical illusion of Magnetic Hill. The tidal bore was the first phenomenon to become an attraction but the construction of the Petitcodiac causeway in the 1960s effectively extirpated the
