The opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge has been delayed again, with officials now targeting early 2026 for the long-awaited Windsor–Detroit crossing to open. Bridge spokesperson Heather Grondin said construction remains on track to finish this year — but the bridge won’t open to traffic until sometime next year. Grondin emphasized no single factor triggered the change in timeline, saying officials simply want to make sure the massive project launches smoothly. “There hasn’t been any specific issue that has arisen through the testing,” she said. “It’s just really an acknowledgement that this is a huge project. A new piece of border infrastructure is not opened every day — and we want to make sure we’re doing the work right so that we can have a successful opening and operations period.” She said the decision to take extra time was made collectively among the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, its private-sector partner Bridging North America, and various transportation and border agencies in Ontario and Michigan. “Not a specific person said we need to delay, but looking at the whole picture — collectively across our four project components and all of the parties that are involved — it’s decided that taking that time to do it right is time well spent,” she said. Grondin indicated the bridge, and all of its associated components, are roughly 98 per cent complete, with testing and staff training still underway. “There’s testing that’s going on across all of the project components,” she said, pointing to the “aesthetic lighting” as one example. “We turned on the lights for the first time on September 18, about 5,000 LED, individually programmable lights that were turned on.” Testing has also been underway for toll lanes since June, ensuring overhead signage and payment systems work correctly and that staff training procedures are in place. She gave one example involving the symbols and signage used at toll lanes. “We’ve tested the colors,” she said. “We’ve looked at them at night, during the day, on foggy days or on more sunny days — to make sure they’re perfectly legible." Grondin said this kind of detailed testing means even minor adjustments can lead to more rounds of checks. “Every time you do a test, you find one minor thing that needs to be tweaked,” she said. “You change and you address that, and then you have to test the whole system over again.” She confirmed the decision to delay the project further was made within the past couple of weeks. “When we do open those gates after the ribbon cutting, everything’s working exactly as we anticipated,” Grondin said. “No compromises on the safety of our workers, no compromises on the security of the trade that’s going to move across the border, and no compromises on the efficiency of the travelers.” A specific opening date within early 2026 has not yet been determined, but bridge officials said details will be shared as the project’s final testing and commissioning wrap up.
