Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority and Bridging North America officials recently announced the Gordie Howe bridge, connecting the U.S. and Canada will now take nearly a year longer to complete, with its completion date now set for 2025.
The Gordie Howe International Bridge, which began construction in fall 2018, was originally planned to be completed in November 2024 but was delayed due to complications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Until now, there was only speculation whether the bridge's completion might be pushed back into 2025, but the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority and Bridging North America confirmed the bridge's delayed schedule last week.
In 2022 and 2023, the project team was able to make significant progress on the bridge and road deck construction, stay cable installation, and port of entry facilities, said the Bridge Authority in a news release. In 2024, the team expects to connect the bridge deck over the Detroit River, install the last of the 216 stay cables, and complete the POE agency buildings as well as the concrete for the connecting Interstate 75 ramps before finishing the bridge and conducting operational tests in 2025.
The Bridge Authority and Bridging North America updated their contract for the Gordie Howe International Bridge, originally valued at $4.3 billion USD, to reflect the official change in the completion timeline and note the contract's increase in value to $4.8 billion USD.
“After a three-year pandemic and considering the size and complexity of the Gordie Howe International Bridge project, our project team is pleased that the impact to the construction schedule is limited to only 10 months beyond the original contracted completion date and that we could agree on a reasonable adjustment to the contract value," said Charl van Niekerk, CEO of the Bridge Authority, in a statement. "With safety as our top priority, we will continue to work together to deliver this much-needed infrastructure to the thousands of eager travelers ready to cross North America’s longest cable-stayed bridge.”
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Source: Detroit Free Press
