Ontario Construction News staff writer
The Gordie Howe International Bridge, one of the largest infrastructure projects in North America, will open to traffic July 27, creating a new international trade corridor between Windsor and Detroit.
Canadian government officials announced the opening date last week, saying Canada and the State of Michigan agreed to begin operations with the support of the U.S. government.
Canada is expected to receive 50 per cent of the bridge’s toll profits in the first 15 years, with the other 50 per cent going into an economic development fund.
The opening was originally scheduled for June, but was delayed after the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA) said Canada and the United States needed additional time to resolve outstanding operational issues before the crossing entered service.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Mark Carney defended the deal, insisting profits split with the Americans will be minimal.
“The word ‘net’ does a lot of work in this,” Carney said in an interview with CTV News Calgary. “We are sharing after Canada is paid back.
“We get the revenues. Then the servicing of the costs of the bridge and paying the debt of the bridge, and then what’s left over, there’s a split of that for 15 years.”
“There’s not going to be a lot of net to split,” the prime minister later added.
The new crossing is expected to significantly ease congestion at the nearby Ambassador Bridge and streamline cross-border trade.
The six-lane, cable-stayed bridge spans the Detroit River and connects Highway 401 in Windsor directly to Interstate 75 in Detroit through dedicated border inspection plazas on both sides of the border. The crossing is expected to improve the movement of commercial goods and reduce congestion at the nearby Ambassador Bridge, one of North America’s busiest international trade crossings.
The project includes the bridge, Canadian and U.S. ports of entry, and highway connections linking the crossing to existing transportation networks. At 853 metres (2,798 feet), the bridge’s main span is the longest of any cable-stayed bridge in North America.
Construction began in 2018 under a public-private partnership led by Bridging North America, a consortium responsible for designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining the crossing under a long-term agreement with the WDBA. More than 11,000 workers contributed to the project during peak construction.
According to the Canadian government, Canada and the United States have also agreed to a series of cooperative measures to support the bridge’s opening, including commitments related to toll governance and transparency and the establishment of a 15-year economic development fund financed through a portion of bridge operating profits.
The WDBA will also work with the U.S. government on future toll-rate adjustments, seeking concurrence on certain non-market-related toll changes.
“After years of planning, partnership and construction, the Gordie Howe International Bridge will soon be opening,” Canadian Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson said in a statement. “The Gordie Howe International Bridge will create new opportunities, strengthen our economy and bring economic benefits on both sides of the border for generations to come.”
Industry officials expect the bridge to improve supply-chain efficiency, particularly for the automotive sector.
Glenn Stevens Jr., executive director of MichAuto at the Detroit Regional Chamber, said the bridge’s six lanes, modern security systems and direct connection to Interstate 75 will allow freight to move more efficiently across the border.
“This new bridge is a six-lane bridge. The current bridge is a four-lane bridge,” Stevens said, adding that capacity will support the automotive industry’s just-in-time manufacturing model by reducing delays in the cross-border movement of parts and finished vehicles.
The crossing is expected to become a key gateway for Canada-U.S. trade, which sees hundreds of billions of dollars in goods move annually across the Windsor-Detroit corridor.
