A ceremonial ribbon-cutting for the long-awaited $6.4-billion Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit is scheduled for later this week, according to a source with knowledge of the event. However, the crossing will not open to traffic on that day.
The source did not specify the exact day for the ribbon-cutting, but two sources unauthorized to speak publicly told Detroit-area media outlets on Monday afternoon that the ceremony is planned for Friday. Detroit-area media reports are uncertain whether the bridge will be open to the public afterward, but they indicate that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and former governor Rick Snyder are expected to attend.
Whitmer’s office directed all inquiries to the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA), the consortium overseeing the construction and maintenance of the six-lane, 2.5-kilometre cable-stayed bridge, which has been more than two decades in the making. The WDBA did not immediately respond to requests for comment to confirm the plans. However, spokesperson Tara Carson said in an email last week that the bridge was on track to open before the end of spring, which is June 20.
John Roach, director of media relations for Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield’s office, said he was unaware of any invitations related to the bridge event. When asked about the status of the bridge following city council on Monday morning, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said he believes the bridge is close to opening and that it would probably be a low-key affair.
“But I’m hopeful that if we get to a point in time where we find a pathway forward with a new trade agreement with the United States and Mexico, that it would be the type of event where we’d actually get a ribbon-cutting in the middle, where the president (and) the prime minister meet in the middle, and we celebrate a binational relationship and the trade agreements that we have in place. I hope that still happens once we get to the end of an upgraded CUSMA,” he said.
The Michigan Department of Transportation also referred all inquiries to the WDBA. During a U.S. committee hearing last week, Michigan Senator Gary Peters asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to confirm whether U.S. Customs and Border Protection was staffed and prepared to facilitate cross-border trade and travel at the bridge.
“We have the personnel dedicated, ready to move,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in response. “We’re prepared, we’re staffed, ready to go. Once that’s done, there’s still negotiations between Canada and the United States. That’s not within DHS; that has to be resolved. But we’re as far as we can go without the sign-off on the bridge and the final agreement between the two countries.”
More to come. — With files from Millar Holmes-Hill
