Howe bridge project making progress
Authority says the much-anticipated border crossing is in ‘design-build phase’
All required properties on the Detroit side will finally be in hand in September, while site preparation on both sides of the border is in full swing for the Gordie Howe International Bridge, said officials overseeing the project on Thursday.
The Windsor-detroit Bridge Authority staged its annual general meeting at the Capitol Theatre where financial details of the project for the 2018-2019 fiscal year were released and a construction update on the long-awaited border crossing was provided.
“We have agreements with property owners and (in September) are court-ordered dates to transfer to our possession,” said Bryce Phillips, the bridge authority’s CEO of the final required lands in Detroit.
“We are now in the design-build phase of the project. The design work is about 75 per cent complete. Construction has started on both sides of the border. The main work right now is preparing the property.”
On any given day, there are just under 100 workers on site on both sides of the border working on wick drain installation for proper drainage of the plazas or drilling down to bedrock to install supports for the massive towers to support the new bridge, he said.
The bulk of construction and towers for the six-lane cable-stayed Howe bridge are expected to begin to rise between 2021 and 2023. As the project continues to ramp up, there are about 20 skilled trades workers on average being added each month.
Much of the current workload for the project involves white-collar staff of engineers and designers, who are creating the blueprints for the bridge, plazas on both sides of the border and a new three-kilometre feeder road in Detroit.
“There are challenges on a daily basis,” Phillips said.
“The riskiest part of the project is when you are going down (into the ground). We expect the project to finish going underground late this summer, but there are pushes and pulls every day.”
The financial numbers released Thursday are a bit dated since they cover the fiscal year until the end of March 2019.
The bridge authority — not including direct project construction — incurred expenses over those 12 months of $211.6 million, much of that related to the I-75 connection ($127.1 million) in Detroit that includes design work, demolition of overpasses, redesigning of connections and lands purchased.
Other noteworthy expenses for the fiscal year include $8.3 million for legal services, plus $5.9 million for environmental remediation work on property next to the Canadian plaza site.
The total cost for the Gordie Howe bridge project is expected to be $5.7 billion.
Of the total, $3.8 billion is going toward design and construction, while $1.9 billion is to be given to the project contractor Bridging North America for operation and maintenance costs for 30 years after the bridge opens in 2024.
The Canadian government is paying for about 85 per cent of the costs in monthly instalments to the contractor with expectations to recoup those funds in years ahead through tolls.
“All financial modelling is in place and payments are being executed as work is completed,” Phillips said.
“There are no financial problems on the project to date.”
The bridge authority has a board of directors in place to help ensure timelines and terms under the signed agreement with Bridging North America are being met.
“We are responsible for approving any extension of timelines and to date we have not had to do that,” said board chair Dwight Duncan. “I expect good days and bad days, but we will remain very vigilant to ensure obligations are being fulfilled.”
The project includes $20 million to be paid out by the contractor for community benefits — $10 million on each side of the border.
Phillips expects the first of those funds will start to be released in about six months toward improvements as suggested by community coalition groups on each side of the border.