The federal and Ontario governments have announced the start of construction on upgrades to the Canadian Plaza of the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel to improve capacity and operations.
“These upgrades are part of our strategy to ensure that modern and efficient infrastructure is in place at Windsor-Detroit—Canada’s most important trade corridor,” federal Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Diane Finley, speaking on behalf of Minister of Transport Denis Lebel, said in a statement.
The project is part of the Let’s Get Windsor-Essex Moving strategy, a $300 million commitment by the federal and Ontario governments to improve border crossings in the region. Funding for the strategy comes from the Canada-Ontario Border Infrastructure Fund.
“These infrastructure projects are creating jobs now and building our economy for the future,” said Dwight Duncan, Ontario minister of finance and Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Windsor-Tecumseh.
“Ontario’s significant investments in our border crossings are allowing people and goods to move between Ontario and Michigan more quickly, saving both time and money and encouraging economic growth.”
The improvements at the plaza include creating new vehicle access lanes, new buildings for the Canada Border Services Agency, tunnel maintenance, new integrated primary inspection lanes for trucks, and reconfiguration of duty-free parking areas, municipal parking lots, and existing intersections.
Traffic on local streets will be maintained during the first stage of the work, which starts with sewer and water main installation, demolition of parking areas, and installation of temporary traffic signals. The work is projected to take two construction seasons.
Approximately 27,000 to 29,000 vehicles pass through the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel on a daily basis. The tunnel is jointly owned by the cities of Windsor and Detroit.
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