Everything about The Ambassador Bridge totally explained
The
Ambassador Bridge is a privately owned
suspension bridge that connects
Detroit,
Michigan, in the
United States, with
Windsor,
Ontario, in
Canada. The bridge is owned by the Detroit International Bridge Co., which is controlled by
Grosse Pointe billionaire Manuel "Matty" Moroun. The
Detroit-Windsor Tunnel also connects the two cities. A 2004 Border Transportation Partnership study showed that 150,000 jobs in the region and
US$13 billion in annual production depend on the Windsor-Detroit international
border crossing.
The bridge, over the
Detroit River, had the
longest suspended central span in the world when it was completed in 1929 —
1,850 feet (564 m). The total bridge length is
7,500 feet (2,286 m). It is the busiest international
border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume: more than 25 percent of all merchandise trade between the United States and Canada crosses the bridge. Construction began in 1927 and was completed in 1929. The
architect was the McClintic-Marshall Company of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The bridge is styled in a mixture of
Art Deco and
Streamline Moderne architectural designs, with some
Gothic architecture blended in. It is made primarily out of steel; however, the two main towers on each side of the river are made of a
steel-
silicon alloy which rise up from
concrete piers. The towers rise
386 feet (118 m) above the river, and plunge
115 feet (35 m) below the surface of the Detroit River. The bridge is made up of 21,000
tons of steel, and the
roadway rises as high as
152 feet (46 m) above the Detroit River.
The four-lane bridge carries more than 10,000 commercial vehicles on a typical weekday. When a major redesign of the U.S. plaza is completed in 2008, the bridge will provide direct access to and from
Interstate 75 and
Interstate 96 on the U.S. side and Highway 3 and
Highway 401 on Canadian side. The Ambassador Bridge enhancement project calls for a twin span to be built across the
Detroit River.
Due to the extremely high traffic volume, the American and Canadian governments are jointly examining proposals for the construction of a second bridge
downriver. The line-ups for trucks can easily be
8 miles (12.9 km) in length; shortly after the
September 11th attacks, trucks were backed up for over
34 kilometres (21.1 mi), to just past the Belle River Road interchange on
Highway 401.
Some of the concrete from the original roadbed of the Ambassador Bridge has been used in
Windsor's
parks and bike trails.
In literature, film and television shows
The bridge was featured in the films
8 Mile,
Crossing the Bridge,
Grosse Pointe Blank,
Sicko and
Bowling for Columbine. It can also be seen in the opening scenes of the film
Four Brothers and in an episode of the series
Biker Mice From Mars ("The Motor City Maniac", 1994).
Photo gallery
Image:AmbassadorBridgesunsetting1.jpg|Sunset and the bridge from Windsor, Ontario.
Image:DetroitRivericeflowsAmbridge.jpg|Ice breaks up and flows along the Detroit River
Image:Ambassadorbridgetrucksandsun.jpg|Trucks entering Detroit are seen in the sunset as Zug Island and Delray section of Detroit is beneath the bridge.
Image:AmbassadorBridgesunsetting2.jpg|The bridge again.
Image:Ambassadorbridgefrombase.jpg|The bridge is each city's main trade artery with the other
Image:Ambassadorbridgeandboat.jpg|The Detroit River flows beneath the bridge.
Image:Ambassador bridge 2.JPG|Bridge from the American side of the Detroit River
Image:Ambassador bridge small.JPG|Ambassador Bridge, looking southwest towards the Downriver communities.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ambassador Bridge'.
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