CTV News is going into the archives to look back on the major milestones that lead us to have a third border crossing in Windsor – the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Late 1990s Transport trucks stacking up on Huron Church Road – on their way to the Ambassador Bridge - has long been an issue for west Windsor residents. Residents had to deal with blocked intersections and difficulty crossing Huron Church Road. First responders too – specifically firefighters from the College Avenue station – had to post warning signs to ensure they could safely cross the busy street in an emergency. Former city councillor and Windsor-West MP Brian Masse recalls one of his earlier meetings about the issue. “We were lamenting again, the aggressiveness of the Ambassador Bridge, and wanting to actually expand its operations even more so and right in the heart of our city,” Masse said in a recent interview. “And I had a resident at that point in time said, ‘Well, why don’t we fight for a new public crossing?’ And that’s where it really started was at that moment.” And then, Sept. 11, 2001, happened. Sept. 11, 2001 In the hours after the World Trade Center in New York City and Pentagon in Washington were attacked, the border closed. It was closed for hours. And when the border reopened, American customs officers searched each and every vehicle entering the U.S. It led to delays in Windsor. Here is what is what it was like in Windsor on Sept. 12, 2001, as what used to be a short commute turned into multiple hours long waits. The gridlock bled all the way out to Essex County, with transport truck drivers stuck on Highway 401, some of them for days. Here is how the Salvation Army and Canadian Red Cross mobilized to bring food and water to the 401, which was a parking lot. In the weeks that followed 9/11, local leaders said the Windsor-Detroit border was in focus on a national level. “Following 9/11, it became really paramount and obvious that we needed to have redundancy in our crossings,” former Windsor-West MP and current Canadian Senator Sandra Pupatello told CTV News in a recent interview. “Let the games begin! Because after that it was a fight amongst lobbyists; it was who wanted it? Who didn’t?” Sept. 25, 2002 The cross-border and nation-wide attention to the so-called “thickening” of the border crossing, particularly in Windsor, gained so much attention the upper levels of government came to the city to announce $600 million “Border Infrastructure Fund.” Here is their announcement from what was then called “The Cleary International Centre”, which is now St. Clair College Centre for the Arts. The Fund included a promise to create a federal-provincial committee to study the problem and find long and short-term solutions. Here is how Windsorites, leaders, and business owners reacted to the infusion of money for the border. According to the news release from that day, the Canada - United States - Ontario - Michigan Bi-National Partnership was already working on “long term alternatives to expand capacity at the Windsor-Detroit gateway, including new border crossings.” That funding helped to create the Detroit River International Crossing study, which evaluated dozens of potential crossing locations and ideas over the proceeding six years. “There were a lot of frustrations, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of unnecessary battles,” Eddie Francis, former Windsor mayor, recalled. “Everybody had a proposal, everybody had an idea of where the next crossing should be and everybody was trying to position themselves as being the location of choice.” Among them, was the so-called “Jobs Tunnel” which would have placed trucks on the Detroit rail tunnel. Here is how proponents – which included former Mayor Mike Hurst – explained the value of their plan. The Moroun family, owners of the Ambassador Bridge also lobbied to twin their span, which would have dropped the border traffic right back onto Huron Church Road. “I have a lot of pride in our community because we fought off the OMERS Pension Fund being the Jobs Tunnel,” Masse recalled. “We fought off the Ambassador Bridge for twinning, despite all the political influence and we united as a community to get [what is now called] the Gordie Howe International Bridge.” June 18, 2008 After hosting hundreds of public meetings, officials with the Detroit River International Crossing study revealed their preferred location; Windsor’s west end. The decision rejected 13 of 15 short-listed locations for the new bridge, including the proposals of both the Ambassador Bridge and the Jobs Tunnel. The location required a highway link to be developed to connect the 401 with the bridge on the Canadian side. The American side would be linked right into the I-75/I-96 interchange. In Windsor-Essex, transforming Talbot Road was one of the routes up for debate, as reported by John Lewis. “The political machine in Toronto, the political machine in Ottawa was working against us, every second of every day,” Francis believes, noting the province wanted to route trucks from the 401 up to E.C. Row Expressway. He recalls a bureaucrat criticizing Windsor for not wanting trucks through the city. “Just because the Gardiner [Expressway] or the QEW runs outside your window doesn’t mean that we need 10,000 trucks running by our residents who have put up with this for years and years and years,” Francis replied at the time. The City retained Sam “Gridlock” Schwartz to draft a plan to run traffic around the bottom of the city and through an industrialized area in the west end. It required hundreds of properties be expropriated or purchased to make way for what was initially called the Windsor-Essex Parkway. “Unfortunately, it was through the middle of my riding,” Pupatello recalled. “So, I had to go door-to-door to people who’s homes we might take, or not.” Then the community rallied around the idea of sending the highway traffic below grade with a patchwork of covered tunnels and a long stretch of recreational trails at ground level. “It was very disappointing because we couldn’t get the supports for more tunnelling that we wanted and that led to investments [from] the federal [government],” Masse explained. Jan. 15, 2009 Meantime, officials were working on environmental assessments for the bridge itself on both sides of the border. Those came through on Jan. 15, 2009. “We still require permits in the U.S. and Canada under the Bridges and Tunnels Act in Canada, in the United States it will require a Presidential Permit,” Transport Canada spokesperson Mark Butler said in an interview with A-News at the time. “We still have some more steps to go, but this is a significant step.” August 2011 Construction started on the Herb Gray Parkway in August of 2011, with a groundbreaking with leaders from all levels of government. In spite of the significance of the event, the future of the bridge it was built for was far from secure, according to this report by former reporter Cristina Howorun. In November 2012, the road was renamed the Herb Gray Parkway in honour of former MP Herb Gray, who was in public service for 50 years, including 13 consecutive terms in political office. June 15, 2012 In January 2011, Rick Snyder was elected Governor for the state of Michigan. “I ran as one tough nerd,” Snyder told CTV News in a recent interview. “I love to learn about everything. So, I did a lot of homework on the bridge project and as I did more and more homework, I saw the value of the second bridge.” This, in spite of political support against the bridge. “It was a consistent theme through all eight years in office,” Snyder said. Through that homework, Snyder discovered he didn’t need the White House to sign off on a bridge to Canada by reading the fine print on the Michigan Constitution. “It actually calls out Canada specifically as an eligible party to do interlocal agreements,” Snyder explained. On June 15, 2012, Snyder and then Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced their agreement to build a second bridge between Windsor and Detroit. From the beginning, the deal called for Canadian taxpayers to foot the bill for the bridge, and be repaid by all users through tolls, as explained by former reporter Gina Chung. April 12, 2013 In less than a year, the Barack Obama Administration approved the Presidential Permit for the new bridge crossing. The media questioned from the start which country would get the work, as reported by former reporter Christie Bezaire. May 14, 2015 Property acquisitions and expropriations continued on both sides of the border with the necessary permits in place. Governor Rick Snyder returned to Windsor with then Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the official naming ceremony of the bridge. Howe’s family came to Windsor for the event. Nov. 21, 2015 So-called “early works” were underway on the bridge itself, with an opening years in the distance, but the highway connecting Highway 401 to the bridge opened to traffic. The Herb Gray Parkway opened in stages, but the recreational trails were further delayed. The left lane of traffic on the 401 was closed to traffic, pushing motorists off the highway near St. Clair College until this past spring when the lane was opened. Traffic was running on the Herb Gray Parkway for nearly three years before construction began on the bridge it was built for. Oct. 18, 2018 High-profile politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, kicked off the start of construction on the shores of the Detroit River. The Windsor ceremony included a blessing of the ground by Indigenous leaders. In 2018, the project was estimated to cost $5.7 billion and be operational by late 2024. In the early part of the pandemic, Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA) officials said the pandemic wouldn’t impact construction schedules or the project cost. However, by 2023, the date for opening was pushed back to November 2024. In early January 2024, the WDBA pushed the date a full year later and the cost ballooned to $6.4 million. June 2024 Six years after construction started, the bridge decks from Windsor and Delray were first connected by a temporary beam. It meant the bridge was officially an international crossing and officials say crews were thrilled with the milestone. Then just a few weeks later, ironworkers placed the first permanent beams, officially linking the two countries with a historic handshake. The bridge was slated to open late summer or early fall 2025. However, in September 2025, officials said the bridge was only 98 per cent completed, but would be open by the end of the year. That deadline wasn’t met either, as officials repeatedly said the bridge was in testing and commissioning phases for all traffic and customs systems. The waiting continued into the winter of 2026, with a bombshell post by U.S. President Donald Trump who said he wouldn’t let the bridge open pending the review of CUSMA later this year. June 8, 2026 For months, the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority said the bridge would open in “Spring 2026.” News broke on June 8 officials in Washington, D.C. were reportedly organizing a ribbon cutting for June 12. The ceremony was slated for 1 p.m. on the bridge deck. CTV News was able to confirm Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens was to be in attendance, but none of the local MPs were expected to attend. Early June 11, however, the WDBA announced the continued delay of the bridge opening. “Canada and the U.S. have agreed to delay the opening of the bridge, taking the necessary time to resolve any outstanding issues,” Interim Chief Executive Officer Chuck Andary wrote in a statement. There was no clarification on what those issues were, but it is widely believed U.S. President Donald Trump continued to tie the bridge opening with July 2026 review of the USMCA/CUSMA.
