The Gordie Howe International Bridge is set to open to traffic on June 15, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony planned for Friday before the first vehicles cross the new span between Detroit and Windsor.
The date puts a $4.7 billion border project, built over eight years, on the verge of service at a moment when trade and travel across the river are once again moving to the front of the cross-border agenda. The six-lane bridge stretches 1.5 miles from Detroit to Windsor and is expected to become a major new artery for commerce and commuters alike.
Customs and Border Protection staff are ready to facilitate trade and travel across the bridge, and testing of systems at the bridge itself, the customs plazas and the ramps was wrapping up in recent days. Last week, Tara Carson said the span was “progressing well towards a spring opening,” but she also said the exact opening date depends on the completion of ongoing quality reviews and testing and commissioning activities.
That caution matters because the bridge has spent weeks in a narrow gap between being effectively finished and formally cleared. Invitations to the ribbon-cutting went out Monday after a conversation between Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Susie Wiles, while the news that the bridge, customs plazas and ramps could be days from completion first surfaced May 30. On Monday afternoon, Democratic U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin pointed to the coming ceremony at the Detroit Economic Club and used it to argue for practical cross-party solutions.
But the final green light is not entirely a technical matter. U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said the Trump administration still had not reached an agreement with the Canadian government over the opening of the Detroit River span, and he said the president would have to sign off. Last week, Markwayne Mullin said Customs & Border Protection staff were ready to move and that the department was as far as it could go without final agreement between the two countries.
For now, the bridge is moving toward a ribbon-cutting on Friday and a traffic opening on June 15. The remaining question is whether every formal approval lands in time for the schedule to hold, or whether the last step in a long construction project is still waiting on politics.
