Skies were clear, but 100 km/h gusts were too strong for safe passage of trucks. (CBC) The Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association wants a major truck stop to be built close to the Confederation Bridge linking P.E.I. and New Brunswick after a 52-hour bridge closure on the weekend stranded about 100 transport trucks.

The bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles due to winds gusting over 100 km/h that blew from early Friday to early Sunday morning. Northumberland Ferries, connecting P.E.I. with Nova Scotia, also stopping running.

Shane Esson, the chair of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association, said there is a small parking lot and rest area about five kilometres from the bridge on the New Brunswick side but it's hardly enough.

"We would certainly like to see a facility somewhat close," he said. "There is some room for trucks to park but it's very limited access there and traditionally what happens is trucks will end up parking on the side of the road when that facility becomes full."

Some truckers said the weekend's waiting game could have been avoided if the bridge had temporarily blocked off regular traffic and allowed transport trucks to drive one way across the bridge, allowing them room to sway.

Michel Le Chasseur, general manager of the Confederation Bridge, said that would not have been safe.

"When we tested in 2008, when we tested on the bridge with sensors on a bus and a tractor-trailer … the engineers came to the conclusion that it's worse when you're in the middle as opposed to staying in your lane."

Le Chasseur said the weekend's restricted closure was the longest in the history of the bridge, which opened in 1997.

Low supplies at grocery stores

Some Island grocery store shelves were beginning to look a little empty over the weekend and some posted apologetic signs as supplies ran low.

Some trucks waited two days for the bridge to reopen. (CBC)Irwin Docherty parked his rig at the truck stop in Aulac, N.B.

"This is the longest I've ever seen it. Well, to sit for two days, yeah it's very boring. Do a lot of crossword puzzles," said Docherty.

"I have a load of groceries.… They haven't had groceries since Thursday night. I'd say there'd be a few bare shelves around somewhere."

The arrival of groceries Sunday afternoon had clerks scrambling to restock.

"We had no bananas, a lot of the salads are down. We have all our order now," said one clerk in Charlottetown, who was having a hard time catching up.

"It's piled up so high and there's only so many people available to work on Sunday."

Bridge controller Anne Compton said this is the longest time traffic has been restricted on the bridge since it opened in May 1997.