The biggest project ever in the history of DETROIT – the GORDIE HOWE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE - has gotten closer to getting off the drawing boards into the realm of reality. In fact, the project has started despite the rancour between Canada and the USA of NAFTA and other negatives vibes sent by the Trump administration towards Canada. The Gordie Howe International Bridge is a project to build a cable-stayed bridge and border crossing across the Detroit River. The crossing will connect Detroit and Windsor by linking Interstate 75 and Interstate 96 in Michigan with the new extension of Highway 401 (called the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway) in Ontario. This route will provide uninterrupted traffic flow, as opposed to the current configuration with the nearby Ambassador Bridge, which connects to city streets on the Canadian side. The bridge will be named after Floral, Saskatchewan born Canadian ice hockey player Gordie Howe, who was best known for his tenure with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. First proposed in 2004, the project was met with prominent opposition by Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel Moroun, who believed that competition from a publicly owned bridge would reduce his revenue. A Canadian federal Crown corporation, the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, was established in 2012 to coordinate construction and management of the bridge. The project was approved by the United States government in April 2013. The following month, the Canadian government allocated $25 million to begin land acquisition on the Detroit side. The project is underway, preparing the site for construction on both sides of the river and over $350 million has been spent on the project.[6] In May 2018, the Ambassador Bridge owner failed in its appeal to stop expropriations in the Delray neighbourhood. Bridge construction started. The "Bridging North America" consortium was selected on July 5, 2018 to build the bridge. Minor construction will start in July 2018 and major construction in the fall of 2018.[8] Workers broke ground on July 17, 2018. Delray is a neighborhood and former incorporated village, located on the southwest side of Detroit, Michigan. It is isolated from other areas of Detroit by industrial warehouses and Interstate 75 (I-75). As a neighborhood, Delray has no legally defined boundaries, but its area usually extends south to the River Rouge, east to the Detroit River, west to M-85 (Fort Street) and I-75, and north to Dragoon Street at Fort Wayne or sometimes further north to Clark Street. In 1930, Delray had approximately 23,000 residents. As of the 2010 Census, the two tracts that cover the area had a population of 2,783, a 33% decrease in population from the 2000 Census. Residents have relocated over the years due to the increased industrialization of the neighborhood. Much of Delray consists of riverfront industries, interspersed with residential properties, mostly single-family and duplexhouses. Due to this high level of disrepair, in 2007, the Detroit Metro Times described Delray as "the closest thing to a ghost town within a city. The Detroit–Windsor Tunnel (French: Tunnel Detroit-Windsor), also known as the Detroit-Canada Tunnel,[1]is a highway tunnel connecting Detroit, Michigan, in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. It is the second busiest crossing between the United States and Canada. The Detroit–Windsor Tunnel was completed in 1930. It was the third underwater vehicular tunnel constructed in the United States,[7] following the Holland Tunnel, between Jersey City, New Jersey, and downtown Manhattan, New York, and the Posey Tube, between Oakland and Alameda, California. Its creation followed the opening of cross-border rail freight tunnels including the St. Clair Tunnel between Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario, in 1891 and the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel between Detroit and Windsor in 1910. The Ambassador Bridge is a suspension bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan, United States, with Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume: more than 25% of all merchandise trade between the United States and Canada crosses the toll bridge. A 2004 Border Transportation Partnership study showed that 150,000 jobs in the region and US$13 billion in annual production depend on the Detroit–Windsor international border crossing. The bridge is owned by Grosse Pointe billionaire Manuel Moroun through the Detroit International Bridge Company in the United States and the Canadian Transit Company in Canada.[5] In 1979, when the previous owners of the bridge put it on the New York Stock Exchange and shares were traded, Moroun was able to buy shares, eventually acquiring the bridge.

• published: 25 Aug 2018
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