After decades of planning, preparation, and delays, the Gordie Howe International Bridge is finally ready to welcome traffic.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set to take place Friday morning and will see dignitaries such as Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Prabmeet Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation, Gregor Robertson, federal Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, as well as local officials including Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens, members of city council, among many others.
The bridge will officially open to vehicles on Monday.
The new international crossing between Windsor and Detroit is expected to ease congestion at the Ambassador Bridge, while also improving the flow of cross-border trade between Canada and the United States.
The bridge’s opening was originally planned for early June but was delayed while Canada and the U.S. resolved outstanding issues. The announcement earlier this month confirmed the crossing will officially open to traffic on July 27.
Meanwhile, the Canada Border Services Agency says they are ready and prepared for the bridge to open.
Regional Director General for CBSA, Michael Prosia, says CBSA officers have spent years preparing for this moment and the team is ready.
“Our folks have been ready in terms of it’s been a multi-year onboarding of new recruits, we’ve had them training at various locations across Windsor, Sarnia, as far as Niagara Falls and Fort Erie. So trying to give our officers a great breadth of experience prior to the opening... a lot of pride in being able to help the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority build something from the ground up.”
He says the opening marks the launch of what officials say will be Canada’s most technologically advanced port of entry.
“I think it will be very interesting to see once the Gordie Howe International Bridge does open, how traffic patterns will change and normalize. I think on the positive side, it’s going to be the most futuristic port of entry that we have in terms of technology, in terms of detection equipment, in terms of personnel, and the ability that we will have at that location to interdict narcotics, firearms, and other items.”
Prosia says while the bridge will improve traffic flow, it will also change the way border officers respond to organized crime and smuggling.
“We’ve had our staff preparing now over a period of several years, really anxious to get ready and going. But we talk about how complex these networks are, and they’re complex too in terms of their movement. So we are going to have to be quite nimble as an agency in making sure that we are moving to the threats are, but the Gordie Howe International Bridge will certainly change the dynamic in terms of traffic patterns and where we anticipate volumes going.”
As previously reported, Canada cancelled the joint celebration with the U.S. in light of trade action threatened by President Donald Trump.
The Gordie Howe’s multi-use path is set to open to pedestrians and cyclists on August 5.
Construction on the bridge began in 2018.
The formal bi-national planning process - known initially as the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) study - was launched in 2004. These early talks eventually culminated in the Canada-Michigan Crossing Agreement signed in 2012, laying the financial and governance groundwork for the bridge.