Detroit-Windsor Tunnel
The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is a remarkable engineering feat that connects Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, serving as the world's only underwater international border crossing for vehicles. Completed in 1930, the tunnel is nearly a mile long and sits 75 feet beneath the surface of the Detroit River. Its construction, which took about 26 months and cost $23 million, was initiated after years of discussions dating back to the 19th century regarding an effective crossing between the two cities. The design was proposed by the New York architectural firm Parsons, Klapp, Brinckerhoff and Douglas, who undertook the project to accommodate increasing vehicular traffic during the rise of the automobile era.
The tunnel features a sophisticated ventilation system to manage automobile emissions, ensuring a safe travel experience. Though traffic levels initially declined due to economic challenges, they surged in the 1940s following the closure of the Detroit River Ferry Service. Today, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is jointly owned by the cities of Detroit and Windsor and ranks as the second-busiest border crossing between the U.S. and Canada, following the Ambassador Bridge. It continues to play a vital role in facilitating cross-border travel and trade, showcasing the enduring connection between the two cities.
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Detroit-Windsor Tunnel
Built between 1928 and 1930 to connect Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is the world’s only underwater international border crossing for vehicles. An engineering marvel, the tunnel extends for nearly a mile, seventy-five feet below the surface of the Detroit River.
The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel cost $23 million and took twenty-six months to build. At the time, only two other underwater tunnels were in use in the United States: New York City’s Holland Tunnel and the Posey Tube in California’s San Francisco Bay Area.
More than fifty years prior to breaking ground for the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, discussion began regarding a border crossing between Detroit and Windsor. While the rail industry argued for a bridge, maritime planners feared a bridge would not have enough clearance for the high masts of the sailing ships that traveled the Detroit River. With this in mind, a tunnel project to connect the two cities was begun in 1871, though it was abandoned before long; another attempt in 1878 failed as well. However, the successful completion in 1891 of a rail tunnel under the nearby St. Clair River, connecting Michigan’s Port Huron with Canada, threatened Detroit’s shipping industry, and by 1910, a rail tunnel had been completed between Detroit and Windsor. With the rise of the automobile, however, planners felt that something also needed to be done to promote vehicular traffic across the Detroit River.
In 1926, the New York architectural firm Parsons, Klapp, Brinckerhoff and Douglas proposed a vehicular tunnel between the two cities. With the firm’s guarantee to cover the building costs, construction began on both sides of the river in 1928. A trench was dug across the bottom of the river, after which nine steel tunnel sections with their ends sealed were sunk into the trench, joined together, and then covered over. An elaborate ventilation system was installed to prevent the buildup of harmful automobile emissions in the tunnel, and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel opened for vehicular traffic on November 3, 1930, a year ahead of schedule.
Impact
Although the effects of a struggling economy reduced the amount of traffic traveling through the tunnel, traffic increased in volume when the Detroit River Ferry Service closed in the 1940s. As of the early twenty-first century, the tunnel, which is jointly owned by the cites of Detroit and Windsor, remains the only international underwater automotive border crossing. After the Ambassador Bridge, which also joins Detroit and Windsor, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is the busiest border crossing between the United States and Canada.
Bibliography
Jackson, Robert. Highway Under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel. New York: New York University Press, 2011.
Jacobs, David, and Anthony E. Neville. Bridges, Canals and Tunnels: The Engineering Conquest of America. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1968.