Record-breaking Ontario-U.S. border bridge closing in on biggest milestone yet

Construction of the $6.4 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan is just weeks from reaching its climactic peak, soon to officially take the throne as the largest bridge of its kind on the continent.

After much anticipation, delays and cost overruns, the Canadian and U.S. sides of the enormous new crossing will soon meet over the Detroit River in what is expected to be a celebratory ceremony.

In addition to this milestone marking the structural completion of the mammoth undertaking, the meeting of the bridge's two sides will officially snatch the record for the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America from the current title-holder, the Port Mann Bridge in British Columbia.

A new series of photos captures the immense scale of the new crossing, soon to close a missing link in the Detroit-Windsor international trucking corridor by directly connecting Ontario's Highway 401 with I-75 in Michigan.

The colossal infrastructure investment began construction in October 2018, and recently celebrated the 2,000-day milestone of work with a video summarizing the project's over five years of achievements.

It was a big moment for construction crews on both sides of the border, but it will pale in comparison to the momentous achievement when the two sides of the bridge meet — a milestone anticipated to occur this summer.

The project's lead designer and construction engineer, Ankur Singh, explained in a March video how the road deck and bridge connection will occur in the coming weeks or months.

Singh explained that "there is a custom piece, we call it a midspan closure piece, which is specifically designed, approximately 11 metres long," that will connect the two ends of the bridge together and turn the two independent structures into a unified bridge.

Construction has surpassed many key milestones to get to this point.

Among the major achievements to date, crews have constructed the 220-metre-tall support towers and installed the majority of the stay cables supporting the road deck. A total of 216 stay cables will be installed — 108 from each tower.

There will still be much work left to complete even after the bridge structure is finished this summer. Among the outstanding tasks left to do, crews must complete the stressing process for stay cables, install utilities, add signage, traffic lanes, and multi-use path barriers, and many more finishing touches.

Traffic is expected to begin using the new bridge by September 2025, delayed from a previous projected completion of November 2024.