A $2.5 million pier overlooking the Detroit River is going to be built in Windsor's Sandwich Town neighbourhood.
Port Windsor is set to begin construction of the community pier at the foot of Mill Street within the Queen's Dock greenspace near the HMCS Hunter naval training facility.
It will include green spaces, First Nation interpretive signage, benches, and views of both the Gordie Howe International Bridge and the Ambassador Bridge.
Windsor Port Authority President and CEO Steve Salmons says they submitted a proposal to the benefits fund to build within the parkette, but they didn't make the cut four years ago.
"Just at the end of last year, they approached us and said, look, Port Windsor has supplied our asphalt, concrete, and steel; they've supplied the concrete deck for our bridge. There's such a linkage between us; it's so important that there be a lasting legacy between the construction of that bridge and this port," he says.
The Gordie Howe International Bridge Community Benefits Plan is providing $980,000 for the project, while the rest is being covered by businesses in the community that are contributing to the design, engineering, and installation of the pier project.
"They explained in our teachings and our learnings, you always enter from the left, you seek learning and knowledge, and then you exit from the right. So you will see the new bridge design is almost a triangle where you will go up the left side, and there's a straight walkway over the water. You can ponder, contemplate, the waterfront, the industry, the beauty, and the connection with nature, and then you exit from the right," he says.
Salmons says one of the great features is that this pier will not be in the water.
"River ice, river flows, waves, and heights up and down won't affect us. It's going to be built from the land; it will be anchored, or cantilevered, the engineering term, out over the water. So you get a connection to the water without any of the negative influences of the river itself," he says.
The Queen's Dock: A Cultural Pier is scheduled to open to the public in September 2025.