Gordie Howe International Bridge

For a generation, the busiest commercial border crossing in North America ran across a single privately owned bridge built in 1929. The Gordie Howe International Bridge changes that. The cable-stayed crossing connects Detroit’s I-75 with Highway 401 in Windsor, Ontario, and at an 853-meter main span it’s set to be the longest cable-stayed bridge on the continent. AECOM led the design, and the Bridging North America consortium built it under a public-private partnership.

Project Scope

The crossing is more than a bridge. The CDN $6.4 billion program includes the main span over the Detroit River, two approach bridges, and full ports of entry on both sides, the Canadian and U.S. customs plazas that handle the traffic. Six lanes carry vehicles, and a separated multi-use path lets pedestrians and cyclists cross the river under their own power for the first time here in decades. The deck set a record of its own as the longest composite steel-and-concrete cable-stayed deck in the world. Two towers anchor a structure engineered to shrug off the river’s wind and ice.

Why It Matters

This is the kind of binational infrastructure that almost never gets built, and the financing is half the reason it stands. Canada fronted the cost under a P3 that recovers the investment through tolls, sidestepping the U.S. appropriations fights that stall projects like the Brent Spence Bridge corridor. Major construction wrapped in early 2026, but the opening date has stayed stubbornly vague, with officials targeting spring 2026 and declining to commit to a day. Cross-border politics haven’t helped the clarity. When it opens, roughly a third of U.S. and Canada truck trade gets a modern, publicly owned route. That’s the payoff worth the wait.

Project Team & Details