Canada and Michigan said the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, will open on Monday, July 27, ending years of delay on a crossing built to move people, freight and trade across the border. The joint statement also said the United States government supported the opening, while toll governance, transparency and profit-sharing remain central to how the bridge will operate.
Gretchen Whitmer said the agreement to get the bridge built, signed by Rick Snyder in 2012, “has always been a great deal for our state.” She added that “Thousands of Michigan workers built this critical bridge, which will speed up auto production, lower costs, ease traffic, strengthen agriculture and give people on both sides of the border better-paying jobs and brighter future,” and said the bridge was “a testament to the enduring partnership between Michigan and Canada.”
Canada and Michigan set the rules
The joint statement said Canada and the United States agreed to cooperative measures focused on toll governance and transparency, along with investments in the region including a 15-year economic development fund tied to a portion of profits from bridge operations. The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority will work with U.S. officials on toll-rate adjustments that need concurrence for certain non-market related toll changes, a structure that gives the opening date immediate practical weight for shippers and commuters who will start moving through a bridge whose pricing rules are still being defined.
That structure matters because Canada had designated all toll revenues to go to Canada until it recouped the $4.7-billion cost of building the bridge, after the 2012 agreement with Michigan said the project would be paid back with toll revenues before those revenues would be split. The new statement leaves the revenue framework in place as the bridge opens, but it adds a second layer of oversight around future toll changes and a profit-backed development fund meant to return some value to the region.
Mike Rogers raises toll split
Mike Rogers said on WJR-AM 760 that he had spoken a day earlier to Howard Lutnick and that a deal was imminent. Rogers said the United States could receive as much as half of the toll revenues from the new bridge, and said the deal was expected to include terms excluding Chinese-made EVs from entering the United States via the bridge.
Those details were not included in the joint statement from Canada and Michigan. The gap leaves the public with one confirmed framework for opening day and a separate set of political claims about toll revenue sharing and vehicle restrictions that could still shape how the bridge is used once traffic begins.
Gregor Robertson on trade corridor
Gregor Robertson said the Gordie Howe International Bridge will soon be opening after years of planning, partnership and construction, and said it will provide a new connection for the region while strengthening one of the world's most important trade corridors. For drivers, carriers and workers moving between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, July 27 is no longer a concept date; it is the point when the crossing shifts from project to operating route.
The open question now is whether the toll-sharing and vehicle-restriction terms Rogers described were part of the deal at all, or whether the bridge will begin service under only the governance and transparency measures spelled out by Canada and Michigan.
