COVER STORY
The massive, yet graceful, Gordie Howe
International Bridge is being built to link
Canada and the U.S., with construction
occurring on both sides of the border
By Barb Feldman
One of the busiest crossings in North America, the privatelyowned
Ambassador Bridge that spans the Detroit River between
Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, Mich., is more than 90 years old and
often a bottleneck for car and commercial truck traffic. In 2015,
after more than 15 years of studies, hundreds of community and stakeholder
meetings and layers of governmental approvals, the Canadian Government,
through its Crown corporation, the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority
(WDBA), began to prepare the sites of the Canadian and U.S. ports of entry
for the work to be undertaken by a private-sector partner. On the Canadian
side, that included construction of a perimeter access road, relocation of utilities
as well as filling, grading and drainage activities. On the U.S. side, work
included significant utility relocation. Through its Michigan State partner,
the Michigan Department of Transportation, WDBA began to acquire the
GORDIE HOWE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE PROJECT
PILING CANADA 7