Gordie Howe Bridge inches toward completion
“The Gordie Howe International Bridge is almost connected!” reports The Detroit Line.
Detroit social media accounts are abuzz with posts and photos of the international bridge connecting the Motor City to Windsor, Ontario, Canada’s busiest border crossing.
“Did we miss the finale?” one reader wrote anxiously.
“Nah, there will be A LOT more hoopla and celebration when that happens,” replied another.
Construction completion is planned for September 2025 with the first vehicles expected to travel across the bridge that fall. The bridge will join the Trans Canada Trail and become the first international bridge border crossing within the 28,000 km trail network. It will link trail networks on both sides of the Canada-United States border, connecting the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail (part of the Trans Canada Trail) in Windsor, Ontario to the Iron Belle Trail and the Great Lakes Way in Detroit, Michigan. Trail users will be able to cross the bridge – and make the official border crossing – via a multi-use path.
The project team celebrated 2,000 Days of Construction and 12 million hours worked on March 27, 2024. Construction started on October 5, 2018.
To date:
- Bridge tower construction is complete with towers now standing at their final height of 220 metres/722 feet.
- Only 10 of 56 segments remain to be installed on the bridge deck over the Detroit River.
- Only 20 of 216 stay cables remain to be installed.
- The falsework bents supporting the back span of the bridge are now removed.
- All 40 steel edge girders in the approach spans connecting the bridge to both Ports of Entry have been placed.
- At the Canadian and US Ports of Entry, paving of lanes, parking lots and roadways is ongoing while painting and floor installation has started inside 10 of 12 buildings.
- The final girders that are being installed on the ramps vary in length from 148 metres/487 feet to 304 metres/997 feet and connect I-75 to the US Port of Entry.
- One section of the 3 km/1.9 mile Sandwich Street reconstruction project is completed with another section currently underway and a third to start this spring.
Additionally, the artworks that previously adorned the tower jump form systems have been accepted by the Canadian Transportation Museum and Heritage Village, the City of Windsor, in partnership with Museum Windsor and Art Windsor-Essex, the City of Detroit, Ironworkers Local 25 and Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights Local 687.
