A new bridge to Canada - the Gordie Howe International Bridge
Past president, Barry Hiscox continues with the series Letter from America.
The Detroit River flows west and south for 28 miles (44km) from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes System and for that stretch, marks the border between the Metropolitan areas of Detroit, USA (Michigan) and Windsor, Canada (Ontario).
The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Detroit and Windsor and is one of the world’s busiest waterways, being an important transportation route connecting Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior to Lake Erie and eventually Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Erie Canal. The Detroit River is designated both as an American and a Canadian Heritage River – the only river to have this dual designation.
For many years, since it was opened in 1929, the ultimate privately owned Ambassador Suspension Bridge, of which I have previously written in my Letters from America, has been the only major means of access from Detroit to Windsor.
It is a constant source of congestion as it leads the trade route through built up, populated and speed restricted areas in its quest to go to/from the USA/Canada.
However, despite many hold-ups and stumbling blocks, some due to the owner of the Ambassador Bridge, the downstream Gordie Howe Bridge, named after the famous Canadian ice hockey player, will be completed in 2025.
In June 2024 the span was connected in the middle of the new cable-stayed bridge.
The opening of this new crossing built primarily with Canadian government money at an original cost of $5.7bn will be some $700m over budget and, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, completed 10 months later than originally planned at an estimated final cost of $6.4bn, with the substantial contract delay penalties for overrunning having been agreed to be waived due to the pandemic.
The time for transfer of trade between countries will be cut considerably with resulting significant financial benefits.
Principal features of the new bridge include:
i. An 853 metre long bridge deck across the Detroit river.
ii. 320 metre long side spans completed by the 12 backstay cables and pairs of ancillary piers, that transfer loads directly into the ground.
iii. Aesthetic appeal from extreme slenderness of the deck, which, in combination with thin stays provide an impression of gravity defying lightness and transparency.
iv. Six lanes for vehicle traffic plus bicycle and walking paths.
When completed in 2025 the Gordie Howe International Bridge will be the longest in North America and the fifth longest in the world. Instead of hold ups and weaving through built up areas with speed restrictions the new and increased lane provision (from the current four on the Ambassador to six on the Gordie Howe) the new bridge will directly link Interstate Highway 75 in Michigan to Highway 401 in Ontario, radically improving transit and delivery times with attendant cost savings.
To put matters into proper geographical perspective, it is first relevant to note that the US State of Michigan shares a 721 mile (1161km) border with the Canadian Province of Ontario. Before including the anticipated 2025 Gordie Howe International Crossing into the mix, it is first necessary to consider the following current MI/Ontario road crossings, which currently constitute accommodation of the vast majority of trade between the two countries.
Despite many hold-ups and stumbling blocks, some due to the owner of the Ambassador Bridge, the downstream Gordie Howe Bridge, named after the famous Canadian Ice Hockey Player, will be completed in 2025.
US Interstate 75 – Canadian Huron Street. The 10th busiest passenger crossing located at 16th busiest commercial port between the two countries. The large majority of vehicles using the bridge are cars, the highest usage being in June through September. Total of seven lanes, comprising four regular traffic, one bus and two commercial.
Linking Port Huron MI and Port Edward, Ontario, Canada. First span opened in 1938; second in 1997. In 2020, $75bn in goods crossed the bridge.
The only international under water tunnel in the world. Completed in 1930. Before its construction and the completion of the Ambassador Bridge in 1929, cars and trucks crossed the Detroit River by ferry.
This international crossing is the subject of earlier Letters from America, and is the only privately owned international crossing of particular current strategic importance, because it carries more than 25% of trade by road, USA-Canada, among other things. But this is likely to change with the advent of the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge next year.
And finally, to put into perspective the overall importance and level of trade and movement of goods, among other things, through USA/Canada, it is important to point out that in 2023 USA exports to Canada were $441bn whilst imports amounted to $482bn (compared with Mexico at $529bn and China at $448bn respectively.
Image courtesy of AECOM.