The opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge has been pushed back nearly a year due to pandemic-related delays, bridge officials say.
Expected to open in 2024, the bridge is now slated to open in September 2025, according to an announcement made Thursday by Gordie Howe International Bridge officials.
The shift means the project, a public-private partnership by the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority and Bridging North America, will increase in cost from $5.7 billion to $6.4 billion.
“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 chief executive officer of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, Charl van Niekerk, in a Thursday press release.
“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,” he said.
Simone Sagovac, project director for the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition, which has advocated for the community, said that she has known for a long time that a delay would be likely.
“Construction has been difficult for everyone in the community and we hope that the delays aren’t going to mean added impacts for residents,” Sagovac said. “But we’re hopeful that there will continue to be programs that benefit the community.”
Between 2015 and 2019, residents in Ontario and Michigan, business owners and community and municipal leaders were engaged via meetings, focus groups, surveys and other efforts to hammer out benefits and protections for communities impacted by the project.
With the delay, the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority budgeted for a one-year extension of the Gordie Howe International Bridge Community Benefits Plan, which includes two components: neighborhood infrastructure and workforce development and participation. Details of the funding allocation are expected to be announced later in 2024. A spokesperson for the Gordie Howe International Bridge could not be immediately reached Thursday for comment.
The project team has made progress on bridge and road deck construction, cable installation and port of entry facilities. But the team still needs to finish bridge construction and install the last of the cables as well as the concrete for the I-75 ramps. In 2025, the team will finalize operations and testing before opening to traffic.