Gordie Howe International Bridge Deck Completed, Will Open in 2025 (Video)

The deck of the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting the U.S. and Canada is officially complete. One year of work – now focused on the bridge’s surface – remains before it opens in 2025.

The bridge is the first new connection between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, in more than 60 years. It measures 0.53 miles, is the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America and 10th longest in the world. The bridge towers, which were completed earlier this year, stand at 722 feet tall.

(To watch the deck connection process, check out the video at the end of this story.)

“While we celebrate the physical deck connection today, it gives us the opportunity to look to the very near future when we will see truck drivers make their way to deliver their freight to market, commuters heading to work and back home again, and tourists enjoying the views that bond our two countries from the multi-use path. We look forward to opening for business in Fall 2025,” said Charl van Niekerk, chief executive officer, Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.

Remaining work includes the following:

• Lighting systems installation, including aesthetic lighting, roadway and pedestrian lighting, navigational lighting for vessels and aircrafts and maintenance lighting.
• Instrumentation systems installation, including a bridge monitoring system, weather station, fire alarm system, security systems and an intelligent transportation system to enhance traffic management efficiency.
• Fine-tune re-stressing the 216 stay cables connecting the deck to the towers, expected to be completed by the end of Summer 2024.
• Pouring concrete for the Canadian and U.S. approach spans of the bridge.
• Traffic and wayfinding sign installation and road surface marking.

Originally estimated to cost $2.1 billion and be completed in 2020, the total price tag on the project rose to $6.4 billion in January, according to The Windsor Star. Ground was broken on the project in October 2018.

For a closer look at the bridge deck connection process, check out the video below: