DETROIT – Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says he made the Gordie Howe International Bridge a priority from day one -- even as powerful interests worked to stop it.
He reflects on a project that faced years of political and private-sector opposition before nearing completion.
“When I became governor, I put it in my first State of the State address, saying let’s build this bridge,” he said.
With the bridge expected to open soon, Snyder is reflecting on the fierce opposition it faced while he was in office.
“Most of it came from the Moroun family, the people that own the Ambassador Bridge. Literally, they spent tens of millions of dollars in opposition to building this bridge, to the point where they did a ballot proposal in 2012 to try to stop it, and then politically they made it so the state legislature was generally not in favor of it,” he said.
Snyder said the project had been discussed for years before he took office.
Michigan lawmakers were not willing to appropriate money for the bridge, which is what led him to seek Canada’s financial backing.
“They didn’t blink an eye. They saw value in this, and they saw value in our relationship,” he said.
Michigan and Canada signed an agreement in 2012 to build the bridge, with Canada fronting the money and being repaid through tolls.
Construction began in 2018. The bridge cost $4.7 billion.
It includes six lanes of highway-to-highway traffic, along with pedestrian and bicycle access, which Snyder called part of a broader effort to modernize the crossing for both commerce and everyday use.
As the project neared completion this year, President Donald Trump raised the possibility of blocking the bridge’s opening as trade tensions with Canada escalated. Snyder spoke out against the idea.
“This is a deal President Trump would have been really happy if he would have done when he was back in the real estate business,” Snyder said.
Snyder said he is looking forward to the bridge opening -- and to crossing it himself on foot.
“This is something that’s going to be there for well over a century. That’s incredible, and it’s just going to create better relations, more jobs, more prosperity for everyone on both sides of the bridge,” he said.
---> Carney says the new Canadian-built bridge across Detroit River that Trump threatened will open