I haven’t written much about the Gordie Howe Bridge, despite the new span connecting Michigan to Canada being right in my backyard. But I feel moved to write about it now because a trucker says he accidentally turned on to the bridge and frankly, I believe him, so I’m coming to his defense.
The incident occurred earlier this week when a transport truck driver got turned around looking for the currently open Ambassador Bridge, which is entering its 96th year of service as the busiest crossing with one of America’s largest trading partners. Instead, he navigated a little to the southwest to the Gordie Howe bridge, which is mostly complete but won’t open to traffic until 2026.
The driver told the Canadian law enforcement who stopped him mid-crossing that he was looking for the Ambassador and got lost in the unfinished complex surrounding the bridge’s landing, Fox 2 News reports. You might think, oh come on, he had to notice it was a little too easy to get through customs, what with the total lack of traffic and all. There’s signs and all sorts of things that keep you from getting on the wrong bridge, right?
A rite of passage for Detroiters
Here’s the thing; it’s not always super easy to know where you’re going in the tangled mess of roadways and onramps that make up the entrances to these bridges. The Gordie Howe Bridge (at the bottom of the image) is a little clearer than the Ambassador Bridge, but it’s still a confusing mash of streets. And before you know it, you’re on a bridge with no passport and no fare to get across. On at least the Ambassador Bridge entrance, there’s nowhere to turn around, so you have to cross once you are in the stream of traffic. This results in irate customs officials and a whole lot of angry radioing back and forth. Ask me how I know.
Luckily the officials involved seemed to understand his confusion and let the driver off without charge. No harm done. If he had managed to cross, it would be a fitting first for a crossing that will likely see many more confused drivers come through its gates.
The Gordie Howe Bridge is the new, long-awaited span connected Windsor, Ontario to Detroit, Michigan. Paid for practically entirely by the Canadian government, which named the bridge after a hockey player important on both sides of the Detroit river, the project took an extra long time thanks to the efforts of late Michigan billionaire Manuel Moroun to delay and defer the project. Moroun was sole owner of the Ambassador Bridge, you might be shocked to discover. It did spur a rash of street improvement projects in the long neglected, industrial far southwest of the city, which is nice.
