The project was named Confederation Bridge and upon its opening on June 1st,1997, the ferry service closed after 70 years of daily operation; the vessels were transferred to other services or sold off and the ferry wharves, terminals and other shore-based facilities were decommissioned and dismantled.

After the completion of the Confederation Bridge, Borden's economy shrank as the influx of workers left the town and province and as some of the laid-off or retired ferry workers moved away. The federal government provided "Fixed Link Adjustment Funds" which saw the development of a tourist shopping complex on the property of the former railway yard, which is now named "Gateway Village".

The adjustment funding also paid for the expansion of the town's industrial park to accommodate new manufacturing interests and today the majority of Borden residents are employed in local manufacturing or service industries or in the tourism sector. Major employers include McCain Foods (french fry plant opened in 1992 in the north end of Carleton on the border with Albany), Master Packaging (subsidiary of J.D. Irving Limited), a beef slaughterhouse (operated by Co-Op Atlantic), and Transcontinental Printing (division of Transcontinental Media).