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Roads: Ambassador & Gordie Howe Bridges

$3.8B to build Gordie Howe bridge, complete by end of 2024

The Gordie Howe International Bridge is expected to cost $5.7 billion to build and maintain, and will be in service by the end of 2024.

Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (DWBA) announced Friday morning they have signed a fixed-price contract with Bridging North America, the consortium chosen to build and maintain the structure.

"The project will be built to the highest standards of engineering incorporating sustainability, aesthetics and functionality," said Dwight Duncan, chair of the WDBA board of directors, in a news release.

Of the $5.7 billion, construction is expected to cost $3.8 billion and the rest is for operations and maintenance.

The consortium expects the bridge construction will create 2,500 jobs.

Community benefits
A community benefits plan was a focus for some Windsor residents living in Sandwich Towne and those in the Delray community in Detroit. That agreement is expected to be finalized in six months after financial close.

There were more than 230 suggestions brought forward during the past three years while discussions of building a new bridge was happening.

"Bridging North America has identified numerous options that range from truly innovative to simple solutions that recognize the uniqueness of Sandwich and Delray," the presentation reads
For now the design of the bridge looks like it will include a multi-use path for pedestrians and cyclists along with having three lanes in each direction.

The presentation outlines that there will be green space equivalent to 225 football fields within the two portal of entries.

Construction is expected to begin in October. It's expected to take 74 months, just over six years.
 
Official start of construction today, with our PM in attendance for the ground breaking ceremony
 
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That's the 401 feeding into the Canadian POE. It currently ends in a weird dead end.
 
It will be interesting to see what the traffic split becomes once this bridge opens. I strongly suspect that if you're coming from out of town and aren't destined for Downtown Detroit, you'll be staying on the 401 and using this bridge. If the Ambassador keeps 30% of the Detroit-Windsor crossing traffic I'll be surprised.
 
7 years to build a bridge? Will it be strong enough to hold the Toronto - Detroit HSR? LOL
 
gweed123 said:
It will be interesting to see what the traffic split becomes once this bridge opens. I strongly suspect that if you're coming from out of town and aren't destined for Downtown Detroit, you'll be staying on the 401 and using this bridge. If the Ambassador keeps 30% of the Detroit-Windsor crossing traffic I'll be surprised.
Click to expand...

I’d be happy to see it go down to 1%, just to stick it to the Morouns.
 
gweed123 said:
It will be interesting to see what the traffic split becomes once this bridge opens. I strongly suspect that if you're coming from out of town and aren't destined for Downtown Detroit, you'll be staying on the 401 and using this bridge. If the Ambassador keeps 30% of the Detroit-Windsor crossing traffic I'll be surprised.
Click to expand...

The Ambassador is probably still better if you're heading north - Midtown, the sports venues, Detroit's northern and northwestern suburbs, Flint, etc., despite the traffic lights on Huron Church Road.

But I always take the tunnel, and will still do so sometimes. I love the feeling of entering the city centre coming out of the tunnel and clearing CBP.
 
ShonTron said:
The Ambassador is probably still better if you're heading north - Midtown, the sports venues, Detroit's northern and northwestern suburbs, Flint, etc., despite the traffic lights on Huron Church Road.
Click to expand...

You won't even have the lights on Huron Church anymore; the 401 goes almost right by the Ambassador now.
 
salsa said:
I’d be happy to see it go down to 1%, just to stick it to the Morouns.
Click to expand...
As much as I hate the Morons, Ambassador bridge is gorgeous, and doesn't deserve the state of disrepair it currently has. If it fails, it will be a sad day for Civil Engineers (and for the trade industry, redundancy is so important at this border crossing). However, it's old and unfortunately needs replacing.

Also, how the hell is this bridge costing 4 billion dollars? The sunshine skyway bridge in Tampa is twice as long, has to deal with corrosion and hurricane issues (being by the sea), etc, and cost 250 M to build in 1987 (~600M now, or 850M CAD now). So why is it 4.5* as much? Surely border facilities aren't that much of an increased cost. Maybe half a billion.

Finally, it'll be interesting to see how competition between the Gordie Howe and future Ambassador bridge play out. How low will tolls end up being?
 
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The border facilities are really quite large and the project also includes improvements to the I-75 and some local roads on the US side.

From https://www.wdbridge.com/en/project-overview-gordie-howe-international-bridge-project :

Project Components
There are four components to the Gordie Howe International Bridge:

The Bridge
  • Six-lanes: three Canadian-bound, three US-bound
  • Total length: approximately 2.5 kilometres / 1.5 miles
  • Clear span of 853 metres / 0.53 miles with no piers in the water
  • One approach bridge on each side of the crossing to connect Ports of Entry in Canada and the US
  • Cable-stayed design. Once complete, the Gordie Howe International Bridge will be the largest cable-stayed bridge in North America.
  • A dedicated multi-use path that will accommodate pedestrians and cyclists
The Canadian Port of Entry (POE)
  • Size: approximately 53 hectare / 130 acre site
  • Inbound border inspection facilities for both passenger and commercial vehicles
  • Outbound inspection facilities
  • Toll collection facilities for both the US-bound and Canada-bound traffic
  • Maintenance facility
  • The footprint allows for the installation of further technology and the addition of expanded border processing facilities
  • Once constructed, this port will be the largest Canadian port along the Canada-US border and one of the largest anywhere in North America
The US Port of Entry (POE)
  • Size: approximately 68 hectare/ 167 acres
  • Inbound border inspection facilities for both passenger and commercial vehicles
  • Outbound inspection facilities
  • Commercial exit control booths
  • The footprint allows for the installation of further technology and the addition of expanded border processing facilities
  • Once constructed, this port will be one of the largest ports of entry in North America
The Michigan Interchange
  • Local road improvements including:
    • 4 new road bridges
    • 5 new pedestrian bridges
    • Widened roads at key intersections to allow transport trucks to make full uninterrupted turns
  • Primary connecting ramps to and from the US POE
    • 4 bridges crossing the railway and connecting I-75 to the US POE
    • Reconfiguration of I-75 interchange ramps and service drives
    • Primary connecting ramps to and from the US POE
Click to expand...

Also this Windsor Star article claims that the towers supporting the bridge will be about as tall as the Renaissance Center in Detroit, so about 220m tall.
 
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ErieHall said:
The border facilities are really quite large and the project also includes improvements to the I-75 and some local roads on the US side.

From https://www.wdbridge.com/en/project-overview-gordie-howe-international-bridge-project :



Also this Windsor Star article claims that the towers supporting the bridge will be about as tall as the Renaissance Center in Detroit, so about 220m tall.
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Hm...seems overly, but they're not putting any spans in the water so I guess it makes some sense.
 
ShonTron said:
The Ambassador is probably still better if you're heading north - Midtown, the sports venues, Detroit's northern and northwestern suburbs, Flint, etc., despite the traffic lights on Huron Church Road.

But I always take the tunnel, and will still do so sometimes. I love the feeling of entering the city centre coming out of the tunnel and clearing CBP.
Click to expand...

If I'm heading downtown, as with you I'd prefer to take the tunnel. If I'm headed anywhere north of Detroit though I'm more likely to take the 402 and cross in Sarnia.

ErieHall said:
The border facilities are really quite large and the project also includes improvements to the I-75 and some local roads on the US side.

From https://www.wdbridge.com/en/project-overview-gordie-howe-international-bridge-project :

Also this Windsor Star article claims that the towers supporting the bridge will be about as tall as the Renaissance Center in Detroit, so about 220m tall.
Click to expand...

Good point about the I-75 connection. By a rough measurement that is approximately 1.5km of new highway just to get to the border facility. On the Canadian side a lot of that prep work was done with the 401 extension (although there is still a little bit to go).

There was also a whole whack of property acquisition that needed to happen, on both sides of the river.
 
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