Gordie Howe Bridge sees over 41,000 vehicles cross into Canada in first 5 days

The Gordie Howe International Bridge, a vital link between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, saw over 41,000 vehicles cross from the U.S. into Canada within its initial five days of operation. Statistics Canada reported 18,900 Canadian resident return trips and 18,100 U.S. resident entries into Canada between July 27 and July 31. Additionally, 4,100 commercial trucks utilized the span during this period.

This new crossing aims to enhance commercial and passenger traffic while alleviating congestion at the Ambassador Bridge and Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, which handled a combined 52,700 inbound trips in the same five days. The bridge's opening on July 27 followed weeks of delays.

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It’s so pristine. You just think about the thousands of people who worked on this bridge, the millions of Michiganders who have been following the progress all this time.

The project, fully funded by the Canadian government at $6.4 billion, initially operated under an agreement where Canada would recoup its investment before sharing tolls. However, a revised deal with Michigan, influenced by the Trump administration, now splits revenues for the first 15 years, a point that has drawn scrutiny. Despite these complexities and ongoing trade tensions, both nations are framing the bridge's launch as a testament to cross-border collaboration. U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin highlighted the bridge as a "bipartisan symbol of the importance as a state, the role of trade and manufacturing, the role of our supply chains here."

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While we had some hiccups with the Trump administration at the very end, we opened it, and it’s the living embodiment of our connection with the Canadians and I think just a really important, very bipartisan symbol of the importance as a state, the role of trade and manufacturing, the role of our supply chains here.