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Border crossing
The Gordie Howe International Bridge, connecting the United States and Canada across the Detroit River, is currently being built using mageba RESTON®SPHERICAL bearings
When it was decided to build a new cable-stayed bridge across the river that forms the border between Detroit (USA) and Windsor (Canada), it was proposed to name the structure after the local sporting legend, Gordie Howe – a Canadian professional ice hockey player who spent most of his long career with the Detroit Red Wings, and who is considered by many to have been one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time.
The bridge will have a total length of approximately 2.5 kilometres / 1.5 miles, and its main span of 853 meters (0.53 miles) length will be the longest of any cable-stayed bridge in North America.
mageba was selected to design and fabricate 124 spherical bearings for the main structure and the Canadian approach structure. Fifteen different types of RESTON®SPHERICAL bearing were designed to meet the various force, movement and rotation requirements throughout the structure. Particularly noteworthy is that each of the main span bearings was designed with multiple removable shims to enable the bridge deck to be gradually lowered during the construction stage as required by the construction method.
Bridge designer: AECOM
Contractor: Bridging North America
Owner: Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority
