This audio is automatically generated. Please let us know if you have any comments.
Dive Brief:
- U.S. and Canadian officials reached an agreement to open the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ont., on July 27, according to a press release Friday.
- The opening will be about six weeks after the originally planned June 12 debut for the new crossing. To open the period, the U.S. and Canada spent the past few weeks working on a new set of measures regarding toll governance and the establishment of a 15-year economic development effort funded by a portion of the profits from the bridge’s operations, according to the release.
- Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in the announcement that the bridge “will provide people on both sides of the border with better-paying jobs and a brighter future.” He also said the stretch will “accelerate automobile production, reduce costs, ease traffic [and] strengthen agriculture”.
Diving knowledge:
American officials were concerned about how and when toll revenue should be shared among nations. Initially, the United States was expected to receive a portion of the bridge’s operating revenue, but only after Canada had recouped its investment to build the multibillion-dollar, 1.5-mile-long bridge, which was expected to take decades.
However, the two sides last week agreed on “a series of cooperation measures focused on the governance and transparency of tolls” and directing revenue towards regional investments, but no further details were provided, according to the statement. The Windsor Bridge Authority will also work with US officials “on toll rate adjustments, seeking competition for certain non-market toll charges.”
The Gordie Howe Bridge will add a second span between Detroit and Windsor and is expected to carry 400 commercial crossings per hour. The Transfrontier Institute in a 2021 report projected that the new bridge would speed up truck border crossing times, saving about 850,000 hours annually, resulting in billions of dollars in economic savings over the life of the crossing.
For decades, commercial traffic between Detroit and Windsor used the nearby Ambassador Bridge, which handles about 40,000 crossings and $323 million worth of cross-border freight daily. The privately owned bridge is owned by the Moroun family, which also owns Warren, Mich.-based LTL carrier Central Transport and has seats with Universal Logistics Holdings and PAMT.
The additional truck crossing will not mean the end of the Ambassador Bridge, according to the institute. His report noted that a second crossing between Detroit and Windsor provides the necessary redundancy, adding that “the presence of two bridges at the crossing essentially rules out the possibility of a complete closure of the Detroit River crossing.”
The Canadian Trucking Alliance said the Gordie Howe Bridge provides additional capacity, modern border infrastructure and long-term resilience for the busiest trade corridor between Canada and the United States.
“For commercial trucking operations, the opening represents an immediate improvement in efficiency and reliability,” the alliance said in a statement. “Modern customs facilities, expanded inspection capacity and direct freeway-to-freeway connections will help reduce congestion, improve border processing, strengthen supply chain security and divert heavy commercial traffic away from Windsor’s residential neighborhoods.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said the Gordie Howe Bridge represents a critical upgrade for one of North America’s busiest freight corridors.
“By increasing capacity and reducing congestion at the border, this new step will help owner operators spend less time sitting in traffic and more time delivering goods safely,” Collin Long, OOIDA’s senior director of government affairs, said in an emailed statement to Trucking Dive.
