The hands behind the iconic Gordie Howe International Bridge handshake

Canadian and U.S. ironworkers shook hands across the border as the Gordie Howe bridge deck between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit on Friday, June 14, 2024. (Source: Gordie Howe International Bridge/X)

The Gordie Howe International Bridge is the newest iconic landmark in Windsor-Detroit as its towering pillars reshape the skyline and even before its opening — it’s already had an iconic moment.

That happened on June 14, 2024 when Canadian and American ironworkers met in the middle of the new bridge, connecting the final edge girders, and officially making the span an international crossing.

“I really don’t know how I ended up getting that picture,” Casey Whitson, an American ironworker with Ironworkers Local 25, told CTV News in May in the lead up to the bridge’s grand opening.

“We all wanted to get pictures taken. I was just like, ‘I’ll take the picture of the handshake if nobody minds,’ and nobody said no different.”

Whitson was the American half of what’s become an iconic handshake with his Canadian colleague, Jason Huggett, of Ironworkers Local 700. Both working on the bridge deck, edging closer and closer each day, for its historic connection and symbolizing the joint effort undertaken to usher in a new era of trade between the two countries.

Huggett shared his view of the handshake, seen around the world, in a news release by the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA), ferrying the project across the finish line.

“I said it was about time we got to shake hands after seeing each other from a distance for almost two years, it was really something special,” said Huggett.

According to the WDBA, ironworkers are a crucial part of construction; responsible for 4,500 tonnes of steel rebar in its two towers, the steel edge girders, floor beams, and redundancy girders.

Ironworkers also had a hand in the installation of the bridge’s 216 stay cables supporting the deck.

“Big structures like this, there’s nothing light about any of the work that we do,” said Whitson.

“All the rigging, the iron, just everything is big. And there’s a lot of it. I mean, this thing, just one half of it, from the approach all the way to the centre of the bridge is a mile long.”

Whitson described the handshake moment as a career highlight and something he’ll be holding onto for the rest of his life.

“When it finally hit, when it all happened, I mean, everybody was excited,” said Whitson.

“We all came across the iron wanting to shake each other’s hand for the first time.”

Family connection

The handshake didn’t just make history but also had history behind.

Both Whitson and Huggett are second-generation ironworkers, following in the footsteps of their fathers who worked the metal before them.

Whitson’s father has since passed, but the two were able to share the joy of the young ironworker taking on a once-in-a-lifetime project.

“It was a that was a great conversation,” said Whitson.

“When I told him I was going out to that job he just [had a] big old smile on his face and he goes, ‘Wow, really? You get to go do that?’ So yeah, he was happy.”

Huggett sees the bridge, and the connection it forms, as a legacy his family can be proud to have lent a helping hand.

“That handshake means a lot to my family, my two sons, and my father, who helped build the twin span for the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia,” said Huggett.

Picture framed

For Whitson, being a part of the iconic photo means having multiple copies framed to memorialize the moment.

“Got one at my house, and then I got my parents one, and I got [one at my] family place up north,” said Whitson.

“There’s a couple of them floating around in my union hall in a nice placard up for me.”

The media attention hasn’t quite fazed the humble Whitson but being featured in an industry magazine that goes out to every unionized ironworker from coast to coast — that might just be 15 minutes of fame he can get behind.

“Got the whole spread of all the articles and all that stuff form the Ironworkers magazine,” he said.

“I mean the newspaper’s cool, but being part of the international magazine is next level. It means every union ironworker across the nation got to see that picture, which is awesome.”

The bridge forms the latest physical connection between Canada and the U.S. to allow cars, bikes, and pedestrians across.

While Whitson is looking forward to his first crossing, he doesn’t expect to take advantage of the new active transportation features.

“I probably won’t walk it. I’ll probably drive across,” said Whitson.

“One day I’ll get across there. I can’t wait. It’s been a while since I’ve been over to Canada.”