A successful opening day for the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
Speaking on AM800’s Mornings with Mike and Meg, Heather Grondin, the chief relations officer for the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, says within the first 12 hours of operation, 7,500 vehicles used the bridge.
She says it was hard to predict how many motorists would use the bridge on opening day, but officials are happy with the response.
“Understanding from a commercial perspective, there’s paperwork they need to do before they can cross the bridge,” she says. “So we understood that there might not be a lot of commercial traffic, but we also understood that there’s going to be a lot of interest from personal vehicles for people who really wanted to experience the first day.”
Grondin says the bridge welcomed vehicles earlier than the scheduled noon opening.
“The traffic management work that needed to take place to remove the barriers to get everything set within the land on the bridge itself went very smoothly,” says Grondin. “So we were actually able to start having vehicles to cross right around 10 o’clock, 10:30, which was great.”
She says she was pleased with opening day.
“There’s lots of new signage, lots of new routes that people need to take,” she says. “So pre-planning and everyone getting acquainted with the new way of driving through the bridge is going to take a little bit of time.”
It took eight years to build the $6.4 billion span.
The new international crossing between Ontario and Michigan offers a direct, highway-to-highway connection between Highway 401 and I-75.
The 2.5 kilometre bridge features six lanes, 16 toll lanes, and 60 inspection lanes.