Gordie Howe International Bridge proceeding
with anchor towers and pedestrian bridges
By John Devine
Special to Ontario Construction Report
The design has been revealed for
five pedestrian bridges that will be
part of the Michigan Interchange
component of the new Gordie Howe
International Bridge connecting
Windsor and Detroit.
According to the design team, the
pedestrian bridges are both func-
tional and visually pleasing, and fea-
ture a curved steel arch.
“The design of the pedestrian
bridges is a result of meaningful con-
sultation with the community and
other stakeholders. The voices of
community members have helped
shape the project since early plan-
ning days and we will continue to en-
gage and consult as the project
progresses through construction and
into the operations phase,” said
Bryce Phillips, CEO, Windsor-Detroit
Bridge Authority.
The pedestrian bridges will be
compliant with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) standards, and
will include lighting features. They
will be located over Interstate 75 (I-
75) in Detroit at Solvay Street, Beard
Street, Waterman Street, Junction
Street and Lansing Street. Bridging
North America (BNA) will undertake
construction of these pedestrian
bridges between 2020 and 2024,
when the bridge spanning the Detroit
River is expected be open.
It is being built at a cost of about
$5.7 billion, and is being financed
through a public-private partnership.
Construction challenges are daunt-
ing, and include the building of two
A-frame bridge towers to suspend
the cable-stayed structure, one on
the Canadian side and the other on
the American side, where it will soar
750 feet about Detroit’s skyline.
The massive towers will anchor
the bridge stretching 2,799 feet, the
longest main span in North America.
PAGE 4 – FEBRUARY 2020 – The Ontario Construction Report
Preparing the ground for the bridge
project is nearly complete, with the
full scope of the effort detailed in four
separate projects:
• The bridge itself
• The entry point to the bridge in
Canada • The entry point in the United
States • The Michigan interchange that
links the bridge to Interstate 75
and delivers six lanes of commer-
cial traffic to businesses on both
sides of the border.
• The work on the Windsor side in-
cludes customs plazas at the port
of entry.
“The alignment of the bridge could
not be changed,” says Jiri Filipovic,
vice president of alternative delivery
at AECOM Transportation and a
member of the BNA design team. “It
was mostly because of the former
salt mining. The underground is just
fraught with cavities, and significant
investigations have been done to
make sure that the alignment and any
of the foundations don’t hit the min-
ing cavities. So that’s why it was
pretty mandatory for everyone to stay
on the alignment as we had it.”
The design of the bridge involves a
continuous curve, anchored at each
end by the towers that suspend the
bridge deck with cables across the
river. The side spans are each 1,049
feet long, and supported by 27 back-
stay cables and three pairs of ancil-
lary piers that transfer loads directly
to the ground. Other features in-
clude: The mostly serpentine approaches
on each side include two sharp hori-
zontal curves, designed that way be-
cause of the difficult ground.
Remediation work has been exten-
sive. The land is being prepared for
50,000 square feet of buildings, in ad-
dition to the bridge.
“We had to do a lot of stability
work near the seawall (on the Ameri-
can side) because (drilling subcon-
tractor) Malcolm Drilling’s equipment
is so heavy,” says Doug Thornton,
general superintendent for the Ameri-
can point of entry. “This work is exist-
ing seawall, so we’ve got to drill
some shafts in between all the
tiebacks and transfer the load to the
backside of the anchor cap wall.
Then we can clear out all these exist-
ing obstructions and be able to drill
our shafts for the actual tower. So all
that work is going on.”
The project is expected to meet its
2024 completion date. Majority Cana-
dian-owned BNA is the private-sector
partner designing, building, financing,
operating and maintaining the bridge.
The company and its partners have
significant experience with infrastruc-
ture projects, including the Rt. Hon.
Herb Gray Parkway in Windsor, the
New Champlain Bridge Corridor in
Montreal, Autoroute 30 in Montreal,
the Eglinton Crosstown LRT in
Toronto, Réseau Express Métropoli-
tain (REM) in Montreal, the Auto-
mated People Mover at LAX Airport,
the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge, and many other projects.
The design is being conducted by
two separate teams to resolve differ-
ent building standards, but features
will be consistent.
“It had to be contemporary, mini-
malist and welcoming,” said Filipovic.
“We wanted to have an openness by
the way we used the space. Because
of these common themes, both
teams needed to work very closely
together, and we did. On top of that,
to address the various requirements
for security, we brought in specialty
sub-consultants to supplement
AECOM and the other design team
members to address the different se-
curity requirements (of the Canadian
and American border security agen-
cies).”
Construction begins on Durham College’s
Whitby campus Phase IV expansion
Ontario Construction Report staff writer
Durham College’s Whitby Campus
recently celebrated the start of con-
struction on its Phase IV expansion -
designed to shine a spotlight on
skilled trades training, innovation and
education. Along with college staff, students
and community members, Member
of Parliament for Whitby, Ryan Turn-
bull; Member of Provincial Parlia-
ment, Lorne Coe; John Henry, chair
for the Regional Municipality of
Durham; and Whitby Deputy Mayor
Steve Yamada held a ground-breaking
ceremony in January.
Yamada, along with Durham Col-
lege president Don Lovisa, spoke
about the challenges currently facing
skilled trades.
“The college continuously hears
from its partners that they need more
skilled workers and would like new
programs developed to focus on
emerging industries,” Lovisa said.
“Yet in spite of our current efforts,
the ability to keep up with the de-
mand remains a challenge due to the
physical space constraints at the
Whitby campus. For example, the
student population has increased by
130 per cent in the past 10 years.”
Given the skilled labour shortage
at the regional, provincial and national
level, the timing of this new project
could not be better. Colleges Ontario
forecasts that by 2030 the province
will face a skilled labour shortage of
more than 500,000 workers.
When it comes to skilled trades at
the college, data from the last
three years was recently stud-
ied, looking at seats available
compared to applications for
nine trades programs. It was
found there were approxi-
mately 2,400 seats available,
yet the college received approx-
imately 7,000 applications for
these programs.
To address this demand, the
college has been undertaking
development and diversification in
Whitby since 2009. Phase IV will re-
sult in a 60,000 square-foot expan-
sion, allowing Durham to increase its
student intake in Whitby by 700 to
750 over three to five years.
“More space will allow the college
to focus on high-priority industries –
Durham College’s post-
secondary Electrical Engineering
Technician, Electrical
Techniques, Mechanical Technician –
Elevating Devices and Mechanical
Techniques – Plumbing programs, as
well as the Electrician – Construction
and Maintenance, Elevating Devices
Mechanic and Plumber apprentice-
ship programs,” said Rebecca Mil-
burn, executive dean of the School of
Skilled Trades, Apprenticeship and
Renewable Technology and principal
at the Whitby campus.
“Once complete, this expansion
will significantly increase OUR’s in-
dustrial skilled trades training capac-
ity, while also creating more
opportunities to participate in applied
research projects to advance innova-
tion and knowledge.”
The following are some of the
unique features of the expansion:
• A double-height shop lab to ad-
dress the specialized needs of
both the mechanical and construc-
tion programs. Home to a two-
storey building model, the lab will
allow plumbing students to work
underneath it while elevating de-
vices students will be able to work
in an easily accessible dual-level
elevator shaft.
• Classrooms with moveable walls
and furniture to accommodate var-
ious configurations.
• Training labs with dedicated space
and equipment for a range of post-
secondary and apprenticeship pro-
grams. • Student touchdown spaces.
• A fitness centre.
• A food services facility.
The Town of Whitby con-
tributed $1 million over five years
to support construction. A Build-
ing for Skills capital campaign
will also be launched shortly to
generate additional donations.
More information about the
Phase IV expansion, as well as
construction progress updates
can be found at www.durham-
college.ca/skills. The Ontario Construction Report – FEBRUARY 2020 – PAGE 5