Officials: Detroit-Windsor bridge could be one of Top 5 longest bridges in North America

Dive Brief:

The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority has revealed design details for the planned two-mile Gordie Howe International Bridge, which will connect Detroit to Windsor, Ontario. According to information released by authority officials, the bridge could by one of the five longest in North America and rise as tall as Detroit’s Renaissance Center.
Bridge officials are considering either a suspension bridge or cable-stayed bridge design, and bridge officials will select the winning design and team late next year, according to the Detroit Free Press. Other design details released by the authority include two 750-foot bridge towers and a 150-foot bridge deck to allow for navigation.
Although the bridge is not fully designed, the authority estimates that it will use 500,000 tons of concrete, 22,000 tons of steel and 5,000 tons of bridge cables. Construction is slated to begin in 2017, but site prep on the Canadian side has begun. Land purchases are still underway on the U.S. side and could take more than three years.

Dive Insight:

The six-lane bridge is scheduled for a 2020 opening, and, although land purchases are not complete on the Detroit side, demolition of some homes is underway near the site of the bridge. Canada will pay $2.1 billion for the bridge construction and $250 million for a customs plaza on the U.S. side. Tolls collected on the U.S. side will go to Canada to pay for the U.S. portion of the bridge.

The bridge is the latest Canadian project set up as a public-private partnership (P3), in which a private company or group collaborates with a public entity and assumes much of the financing, construction and long-term maintenance risks of large infrastructure projects. Toronto’s light rail and Dallas’ LBJ Expressway rehab projects are examples of recent, successful P3 strategies.

The private owner of the Ambassador Bridge, which also connects Windsor and Detroit, is feuding with both the U.S. and Canada over the new bridge and has suggested a second span for the Ambassador as an alternative, according to the Free Press.