Ambassador Bridge
| Ambassador Bridge | |
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Ambassador Bridge from the Canadian side of the Detroit River
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| Coordinates | 42°18′43″N 83°04′26″W / 42.312°N 83.074°WCoordinates: 42°18′43″N 83°04′26″W / 42.312°N 83.074°W |
| Carries | 4 undivided lanes of  LECT
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| Crosses | Detroit River |
| Locale | Detroit–Windsor |
| Official name | Ambassador International Bridge |
| Maintained by | Detroit International Bridge Company and Canadian Transit Company |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Suspension bridge |
| Total length | 7,500 feet (2,300 m) |
| Longest span | 1,850 feet (560 m) |
| Clearance below | 152 feet (46 m) |
| History | |
| Constructed by | McClintic Marshall Steel Company |
| Construction begin | August 16, 1927 |
| Construction end | November 6, 1929 |
| Opened | November 11, 1929 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 10,000+ trucks per day, 4,000+ autos per day |
| Toll | US$5.00 / CA$6.25 |
 Ambassador Bridge
Location in Michigan
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The Ambassador Bridge (officially the Ambassador International Bridge) is a suspension bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan, United States, with Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume: more than 25% of all merchandise trade between the United States and Canada crosses the toll bridge. A 2004 Border Transportation Partnership study showed that 150,000 jobs in the region and US$13 billion in annual production depend on the Detroit–Windsor international border crossing.
The bridge is owned by Grosse Pointe billionaire Manuel Moroun through the Detroit International Bridge Company in the United States and the Canadian Transit Company in Canada. In 1979, when the previous owners of the bridge put it on the and shares were traded, Moroun was able to buy shares, eventually acquiring the bridge. The bridge carries 60 to 70 percent of commercial truck traffic in the region. Moroun also owns the Ammex Detroit Duty Free Stores at both the bridge and the tunnel.
A new bridge, the Gordie Howe International Bridge, proposed by the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) commission, has been approved for construction by the Canadian and United States governments. The new bridge further downriver between Detroit and Windsor will be owned and operated by the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, a Crown corporation owned by the Canadian federal government.
After the American Civil War, Detroit–Windsor was a destination stop for railroads in the area. The Michigan Central and the Great Western railroads in addition to others operated on either side of the border connecting Chicago with the Atlantic Seaboard. To cross the Detroit River, these railroads operated ferries between docks on either side. The ferries lacked the capacity to handle the shipping needs of the railroads, and frequently there were 700–1,000 freight cars waiting to cross the river, with numerous passengers delayed in transit. Warehouses in Chicago were forced to store grain that could not be shipped to eastern markets and foreign goods were stored in eastern warehouses waiting shipment to the western United States. The net effect of these delays increased commodity prices in the country, and both merchants and farmers wanted a solution from the railroads.
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Wikipedia