DETROIT (WWJ) - Tuesday, Nov. 15, marks over nine decades of international travel between Detroit and Windsor after the iconic Ambassador Bridge was first traversed in the late 1920s.
The historic, 7,500 ft. long suspension bridge first opened to traffic on November 15th, 1929.
"Its 1,850-foot center span made it the longest suspension bridge in the world,' bridge officials said. "Its total length was 7,490 feet, with the U.S. and Canadian terminals 1 3/4 miles apart. The roadway was 47 feet wide with an eight-foot-wide sidewalk on the west side. The twin silicon steel towers that rose majestically 386 feet above the ground were built on concrete piers resting on bedrock 115 feet below the surface."
While the Ambassador Bridge lost its title as the longest suspension bridge in the world two years later by the George Washington Bridge, spanning the Hudson River, it remains, to this day, the largest international suspension bridge ever built.
According to authorities, the Windsor-Detroit border celebrates its 93rd birthday as the busiest international crossing in North America -- almost one quarter of all trade between the U.S. and Canada pass on the structure made of 21,000 tons of steel.
An estimated 40,000 commuters, tourists and truck drivers carrying $323 million worth of goods made the Windsor-Detroit border crossing each day.
On a given weekday, more than 10,000 vehicles traverse the bridge.
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The Ambassador Bridge has even become a movie star in recent years, making appearances in block buster movies like 8 Mile, Gross Point Blank and Four Brothers.
A Detroit native -- Joseph A. Bower -- originally funded the project costing over $23 million dollars. The McClintic-Marshall Company, who also built the Golden Gate Bridge in California, engineered and built the iconic structure visible to all on the Detroit skyline.
For more information on the Ambassador Bridge, visit ambassadorbridge.com.
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