Gordie Howe International Bridge
crossing of the Detroit River
The Gordie Howe International Bridge (French: Pont international Gordie-Howe) is a cable-stayed bridge across the Detroit River. The international crossing connects Detroit, Michigan, United States with Windsor, Ontario, Canada by linking Interstate 75 in Michigan with Highway 401 in Ontario (through the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway extension of Highway 401). The bridge, owned equally by Canada and the state of Michigan, provides uninterrupted freeway traffic flow, as opposed to the configuration with the nearby Ambassador Bridge that connects to city streets on the Ontario side. The bridge is named after Canadian ice hockey player Gordie Howe, whose celebrated career included 25 years with the Detroit Red Wings, and who died two years before construction began.
First proposed in the early 2000s, the project was met with prominent opposition by Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel "Matty" Moroun, who believed competition from a publicly owned bridge would reduce his revenue. A Canadian federal Crown corporation, the Windsor–Detroit Bridge Authority, was established in 2012 to coordinate the bridge's construction and management. Environmental approvals and other permits were approved in the United States and Canada in the early 2010s. The "Bridging North America" consortium was selected in July 2018 to design, build, operate and maintain the bridge, and construction began that month.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Gordie Howe International Bridge” as crossing of the Detroit River. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as crossing of the Detroit River. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5266001. Authority coordinates are 42.288, -83.098. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012 and 2018.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Gordie Howe International Bridge”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Gordie Howe International Bridge primary sources, Gordie Howe International Bridge archive and Gordie research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Gordie Howe International Bridge”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Gordie Howe International Bridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.