Crain’s Detroit Business

May 29, 2026

Greg Layson

A new international bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, is nearly complete, and it could finally ease a trade bottleneck.

At the moment, though, its opening is entangled in U.S.-Canada trade tensions. The Gordie Howe International Bridge, named for the cross-border hockey great, is intended to alleviate traffic snarls at one of the busiest international crossings between the two nations.

The new bridge and highway connections modernize the corridor, improve predictability for the just-in-time delivery system the auto industry depends on and send a broader signal that governments understand the importance of supporting industrial supply chains with world-class infrastructure, Volpe said.

The project also is important to the American auto sector. The APMA estimates $29 billion worth of American-made auto parts enters Canada each year, most of it through Windsor.

“This bridge does enable better, faster, quicker, and safer and more secure [transit] because of the way it’s constructed,” said Glenn Stevens Jr., Executive Director of MichAuto at the Detroit Regional Chamber.