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Bridge opens amid tariffs
The Gordie Howe International Bridge opened on Monday to trucks, cars and other vehicles, linking Detroit, Michigan, with Windsor, Ontario, after a years-long project built by Canada at a cost of $6.4 billion Canadian.
The opening came as President Donald Trump abruptly announced 50% tariffs on Canadian goods entering America, and U.S. and Michigan representatives were uninvited after the announcement.
Among the first to cross the Detroit River were descendants of Gordie Howe, the hockey legend whose name is on the bridge, while the span now becomes a less-expensive alternative to the privately owned Ambassador Bridge.
Kevin Ketels, a business professor who teaches supply chain management at Wayne State University, said, “There are thousands of trucks that go over” daily, and Freddie Garrett, 81, described watching construction “ever since they put the foundation in” back in 2018.
The bridge is 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) long and rises 151 feet (46 meters) above the river at its highest point, with pedestrians and bicyclists able to cross it for free starting Aug. 5.
Officials and residents react
Michigan Democratic Senator Gary Peters rode a motorcycle onto the bridge, while Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer drove a convertible Ford Mustang, as the inauguration proceeded despite the trade tensions.
Kevin Ketels said the hostility between the governments of the United States and Canada has been “very challenging for us in this region,” adding, “Many feel that it is unnecessary.”
Freddie Garrett, who showed up at Delray Park in Detroit to see the first vehicles moving overhead, said, “It was incredible to see how they did it,” and described how “They put up one section at a time and then they met together in the middle.”
The Morning Call, translating an AP report, said Canada celebrated last week the Gordie Howe International Bridge with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Windsor, but representatives from the United States and Michigan were uninvited after Trump announced a 50% tariff.
The Morning Call also reported that the span measures 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) long and rises 46 meters (151 feet) above the river at its highest point, and that pedestrians and cyclists will be able to cross it for free starting August 5.
Tolls, traffic, and next steps
Radio-Canada said the bridge becomes the third crossing between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, and described the Windsor–Detroit corridor as Canada’s busiest commercial corridor.
Radio-Canada reported that about 30% of truck trade between Canada and the United States passes through this crossing, accounting for more than $274 million, and that the government estimates 400 commercial vehicles will cross the new bridge each hour from its opening.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) began hiring more than 250 new officers in preparation for the bridge’s opening, and a spokesperson for the Agency said the border crossing has an adequate staff and the CBSA is operationally ready.
Radio-Canada listed tolls for the Gordie Howe International Bridge as CAD 8 for small or medium-sized passenger vehicles and CAD 12 per axle for trucks and other large vehicles, while pedestrians and cyclists cross for free.
It also stated that the Ambassador Bridge will no longer be the only bridge linking Windsor and Detroit starting at noon today, and compared Ambassador Bridge tolls of CAD 14 for cars, buses, and motorcycles and USD 15 per axle for commercial vehicles.
