"You can actually see from Fort St. almost down to the river," says Mark Butler, the spokesman for the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority describing progress on the U.S. of what will be new Gordie Howe International Bridge.
At a public meeting Tuesday at Windsor's MacKenzie Hall, Butler said 90% of the properties needed on the Detroit side of the project had been acquired, and demolition of the buildings is underway. Trees are also being taken out.
"That doesn't sound like great news, but with every construction project you need to have tree removal," admits Butler. "The new U.S. point of entry and the surrounding area is going to have a huge amount of green space and landscaping."
Proposals for the design, construction, and operation of the bridge have been submitted by the three consortiums competing for the project, Bridging North America, CanAm Gateway Partners, and Legacy Link Partners. Now, the authority has to evaluate each submission. An announcement on the winning proponent is expected to be made in June.
Butler says it is possible residents in Windsor and Detroit will get an indication of how the bridge will look.
"By September of this year, we'll be able to tell you what the cost of the bridge is going to be, how long it's going to take to get built when it will be in service, and what the design of the bridge is," he says. "We be able to in June give you a bit of a glimpse of what the bridge is going to look like."
So far, the only indications the public have are that the crossing will be either a cable-stayed or a suspension bridge and that it will be "iconic."
Without a chosen proponent, it is difficult to say how much the bridge will cost to build, along with the plazas on the Canadian and American sides, but a previous estimate was around $4.8-billion.
Officials have also said in the past the bridge should open to traffic in 2022.
- With files from Maureen Revait.