Gordie Howe bridge to cost $5.7 billion

The cable-stayed bridge will open in late 2024

OTTAWA — A new bridge that will span Canada’s busiest border crossing with the United States is expected to cost $5.7 billion, take six years to build and will rely on steady tolls to pay back the federal investment needed to make it happen.

The price tag for the Gordie Howe International Bridge, announced Friday, includes $3.8 billion for its design and construction, as well as $1.9 billion more to operate and maintain the span and its ports of entry on both sides of the border for 30 years.

The cost of the bridge has steadily increased since the previous Conservative government found a way to bypass American lawmakers and the funding stalemate that had threatened to thwart the long-discussed project.

Officials overseeing work on the bridge named after the National Hockey League Hall of Famer — who was a legendary figure in the two cities and countries the span will connect — say the contract unveiled Friday with a consortium of private construction firms largely sets the final price.

But there are still risks that could drive up the cost, including any labour disruptions and additional environmental work.

The consortium will have to swallow any increases in labour or materials costs. And federal officials could decide to withhold payments if construction timelines fall behind schedule.

The major risk for the bridge authority is that the project doesn’t earn enough from user tolls to cover the federal investment.

The bridge authority says the cost would have been more than $6.2 billion if the Canadian government had decided not to partner with a private-sector consortium and to foot the entire bill itself. Construction of the sixlane, 2.5-kilometre cable-stayed bridge will provide a second span connecting Windsor, Ont., and Detroit — but it won’t be open to traffic until the end of 2024.

And once it opens, it will have a lifespan of 125 years.

About one-quarter of all goods traded annually between Canada and the U.S. passes through the Detroit-Windsor corridor.

MAX ORTIZ, DETROIT NEWS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Workers clear land this week along West Jefferson Avenue and Schroeder Street in the Delray neighbourhood in Detroit. The land will be used for a truck and customs plaza for the Gordie Howe International Bridgebetween Detroit and Windsor.