Gordie Howe International Bridge tower construction enters new phase
The Gordie Howe International Bridge project’s tower legs – also known as the lower pylon – in Windsor, Ont. and Detroit, Mich., have reached their full height of 140 meters.
Bridging North America will begin work on the final portion of the tower – the pylon head. The towers will take shape as this final 80 meters is completed over the remainder of 2022.
The process to transition from the lower pylon to the pylon head, anticipated to be completed in the spring, involves modifications to the jump form systems and concrete pours to construct the upper cross beam that will merge the tower legs into a single structure.
Once the transition work is complete, construction begins on the pylon head. Critical to the cable-stayed design, anchor boxes within the pylon head will house the cables that will connect the towers to the bridge and decks. This work will be easily visible to those in west Windsor and southwest Detroit.
“It is an exciting time as the towers – arguably the most visible aspect of construction to date – move into the next and final build phase. With the towers currently standing at over two-thirds of their final 220 meters/722 feet height, they represent the significant progress the project team has been able to achieve,” Bryce Phillips, CEO, Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority said in a press release.
The towers have been under construction since 2019. Together, the bridge towers and cable system are being constructed to support nearly 34 million pounds of weight.
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Been a long time overdue with the old outdated bridge. Theyre always working on some part of it and rarely have more than one lane either way open.
This new bridge will save a lot of time and money transporting hazardous materials in to Windsor and area instead of crossing over the blue water bridge and back tracking!
Well this has been a long time coming and will be another Canadian asset once completed.