$86M in prep work for Howe bridge
The Gordie Howe International Bridge project has taken another major step forward with the signing of three contracts totalling $86 million.
Phase 2 of the long-anticipated Detroit River bridge project will begin immediately by contractors retained under the agreements approved by the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority for hydro relocation services and completion of the final phase of site preparation work.
Several hydro towers near the Brighton Beach power plant will be removed and high-voltage electric lines will be buried.
“The second stage of preparatory works is another step in delivering Canadian and U.S. sites that are ready for construction to our eventual private-sector partner,” said Michael Cautillo, the bridge authority’s CEO.
“The more work we complete now, the more quickly our partner will be able to begin construction after financial close.”
The contracts have been awarded to Prysmian Cables and Systems Canada Ltd. for cable and accessories; Valard Construction LP for transmission lines relocations; and AMS, a joint venture of Amico Infrastructures Inc. and Mid-South Contractors Ltd. for distribution line relocation.
The utility relocations as part of this work will focus on the Hydro One power corridor that supports Ontario’s power grid. Work is expected to be completed by mid2018.
“Hydro One is proud to be a part of this transformative project,” said Mayo Schmidt, president and CEO of Hydro One Limited and Hydro One Inc.
“Working with the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority to make the new bridge a reality for Canadian and American businesses and travellers is a top priority.”
A tour last week of the bridge plaza site on the city’s west end showed work on the previous $50-million “early works” project is wrapping up.
That work included one million tonnes of gravel being placed, drainage installed for the toll and customs plaza, high-powered hydro lines being moved underground, creation of stormwater ponds and construction of a new four-kilometre road in Brighton Beach for local traffic.
A new pumping station is also nearing completion just south of the Brighton Beach power plant.
Street lights and curbs are already all in place for the new local “ring road” designed to go around the bridge plaza as a replacement for Broadway Street and Sandwich Street. But it will not open for public use until it’s fully completed some time later this year.
The former Southwest Sales aggregate business on the riverfront just east of the power plant has been purchased by the federal government and cleared away. The property will soon be prepped as the site for the Howe bridge towers and takeoff point heading into Detroit.
The bridge authority’s next step is awarding the contract to a private sector consortium — one of three that are short-listed last year — that will build the planned Windsor-Detroit border crossing, plazas and new three-kilometre feeder road in Detroit to link the bridge to the I-75 freeway.
Bridge construction should start next summer and take about 42 months to complete. The would see the Howe bridge opening some time in 2022.
On the Detroit side, about twothirds of the required properties are in the hands of Michigan’s transportation department with outstanding offers made on every property required.
Expropriation (condemnation in the U.S.) protocol has been launched by the state government against potential unwilling owners not looking to sell — including Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun who holds roughly two dozen required properties.
In return, the billionaire businessman has launched court challenges to stop his lands from being taken over by the state in a bid to delay the Howe bridge project, which Moroun views as revenue competition for his own 87-yearold year old crossing.