Tunnel ceiling repairs on schedule, closures should end in June

Nighttime closures of the DetroitWindsor Tunnel, a primary border crossing for thousands of commuters in Windsor, remain scheduled to come to an end in June despite appearances the ceiling replacement is not close to being complete.

“Yes the project is on schedule and on budget,” tunnel president Neal Belinsky said Tuesday. “We have not had any surprises, so things are going well.”

The closures of the tunnel every weeknight began in October as work got underway for the final stage of the US$21.6-million renovation project that included removal and replacement of the original 85-year-old ceiling slab. A city council report said the ceiling was in dire need for “full removal and replacement of 4,000 linear feet of the river section of the tube.”

LAB SAMPLES

The old ceiling was removed just prior to Christmas with the tunnel shutting down every weeknight from roughly 8 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. since the start of the year. “There is a whole lot of behindthe-scenes work going on,” Belitsky said. “We have the support system (for the ceiling) going in and lab samples are being reviewed. “Things will start happening quickly very soon and folks will see visible progress in terms of replacement of the ceiling.” Replacement of the ceiling was critical to enhancing the tunnel’s lifespan, he said. Toebe Construction, based in Wixom, Mich., is the contractor for the project.

Windsor’s tunnel corporation will pay for half the construction costs of the ceiling replacement. The corporation estimated there would be a loss of $740,000 in toll revenues — equivalent to about 150,000 vehicles — due to the nightly tunnel closures.

“We are anticipating traffic volumes should return quickly (after construction is complete),” Belitsky said. “We have been looking at our traffic on holidays when we stayed open at night and our traffic sprung back to normal.

“We are anticipating when back to full operation are ramp-up period will be short.”