Ambassador Bridge

Ambassador Bridge
Ambassador Bridge
	Ambassador Bridge from the Canadian side of the Detroit River
Coordinates	42°18′43″N 83°04′27″W / 42.312°N 83.0741°W
Carries	4 undivided lanes connecting I-96 and Highway 3
Crosses	Detroit River
Locale	Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario
Official name	Ambassador Bridge
Maintained by	Detroit International Bridge Company and Canadian Transit Company
Characteristics
Design	Suspension bridge
Total length	7,500 feet (2,286 m)
Longest span	1,850 feet (564 m)
Clearance below	152 feet (46 m)
History
Opened	November 11, 1929
Statistics
Daily traffic	10,000+ trucks per day, 4000+ autos per day[citation needed]
Toll	US$3.75/CAN$4 (autos)
Location

The Ambassador Bridge is a privately owned suspension bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan, in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario, in Canada.^[1] The bridge is owned by the Detroit International Bridge Co., which is controlled by Grosse Pointe billionaire Manuel "Matty" Moroun.^[2] The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel also connects the two cities. A 2004 Border Transportation Partnership study showed that 150,000 jobs in the region and US$13 billion in annual production depend on the Windsor-Detroit international border crossing.^[3]

The bridge, over the Detroit River, had the largest central span in the world when it was completed in 1929 — 1,850 feet (564 m). The total bridge length is 7,500 feet (2,286 m). It is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume: more than 25 percent of all merchandise trade between the United States and Canada crosses the bridge. Construction began in 1927 and was completed in 1929. The architect was the McClintic-Marshall Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The bridge is styled in a mixture of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne architectural designs, with some Gothic architecture blended in. It is made primarily out of steel; however, the two main towers on each side of the river are made of a steel-silicon alloy which rise up from concrete piers. The towers rise 386 feet (118 m) above the river, and plunge 115 feet (35 m) below the surface of the Detroit River. The bridge is made up of 21,000 tons of steel, and the roadway rises as high as 152 feet (46 m) above the Detroit River.

The four-lane bridge carries more than 10,000 commercial vehicles on a typical weekday. When a major redesign of the U.S. plaza is completed in 2008, the bridge will provide direct access to and from Interstate 75 and Interstate 96 on the U.S. side and Highway 3 on Canadian side. The Ambassador Bridge enhancement project calls for a twin span to be built across the Detroit River.^[4]

Due to the extremely high traffic volume, the American and Canadian governments are jointly examining proposals for the construction of a second bridge Downriver. The line-ups for trucks can easily be 8 miles (12.9 km) in length; shortly after the September 11th attacks, trucks were backed up for over 34 kilometres (21.1 mi), to just past the Belle River Road interchange on Highway 401.

Some of the concrete from the original roadbed of the Ambassador Bridge has been used in Windsor's parks and bike trails.

In literature, film and television shows

The bridge was featured in the films 8 Mile, Crossing the Bridge, Grosse Pointe Blank, and Bowling for Columbine. It can also be seen in the opening scenes of the film Four Brothers and in an episode of the series Biker Mice From Mars ("The Motor City Maniac", 1994). A 2006 play by Canadian playwright David Brock entitled Ambassador Bridge examined the divide between Canada and the United States.

Photo gallery

Sunset and the bridge from Windsor, Ontario.
Ice breaks up and flows along the Detroit River
Trucks entering Detroit are seen in the sunset as Zug Island and Delray section of Detroit is beneath the bridge.
The bridge again.
The bridge is each nation's main trade artery
The Detroit River flows beneath the bridge.
Bridge from the American side of the Detroit River
Ambassador Bridge, looking southwest towards the Downriver communities.

Ambassador Bridge, looking southwest towards the Downriver communities.