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WINDSOR, ONT. — The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA) has announced the Gordie Howe International Bridge project is not expected to be completed until September 2025, 10 months later than its most recently announced target date.

Additionally, the WDBA says the projected cost of the project has jumped $600 million to $6.4 billion.

The WDBA stated in a Jan. 2 release the delay was a result of disruptions related to the pandemic.

“The disruptions were even more prevalent for the Gordie Howe International Bridge project given the differing applicable restrictions in the U.S. and Canada, combined with the ramping up of construction activities in early 2020,” said the authority.

Originally, the project was scheduled for completion in November 2024 with opening anticipated by the end of that year. Now, with construction completion planned for September 2025, the first vehicles are expected to travel across the bridge that fall.

“After a three-year pandemic and considering the size and complexity of the Gordie Howe International Bridge project, our project team is pleased that the impact to the construction schedule is limited to only 10 months beyond the original contracted completion date and that we could agree on a reasonable adjustment to the contract value,” said WDBA CEO Charl van Niekerk in a statement. “With safety as our top priority, we will continue to work together to deliver this much needed infrastructure to the thousands of eager travellers ready to cross North America’s longest cable-stayed bridge.”

The WDBA and the contracting team Bridging North America (BNA) have agreed to amend their contract to include the new September 2025 construction completion date, new measures to ensure the date is achieved, and the updated overall contract value of $6.4 billion.

The WDBA has also budgeted for a one-year extension of the Gordie Howe International Bridge Community Benefits Plan, with $3 million to be divided equally between Canada and the U.S. and spent over the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

The WDBA said beginning in March 2020 and over the remainder of the pandemic, various governments, including the governments of Ontario and the State of Michigan, issued hundreds of emergency and executive orders that applied to the Gordie Howe International Bridge project resulting in schedule and cost relief that is contemplated in the project agreement between WDBA and BNA.

The new timeline is achievable without compromising quality and the health and safety of workers, added the agency.

“Throughout the pandemic, BNA made progress on the project by keeping people working while also keeping them safe,” said BNA interim CEO David Henderson. “We were able to do so by resequencing construction activities in a manner that aligned with provincial and state health and safety orders and directives and our own rigorous safety protocols.”