Why a Billionaire Tried to Stop This Bridge

if you've tried to buy well anything in the last couple of years you've probably heard something like this the global supply chain isn't functioning as it normally does and you can't find lumber to build a new home well you can't find products to stock the shelves now you might be picturing busy ports in california or of course the ever given wedged in the sewers canal but a major bottleneck in the supply chain is actually right here at the border between the us and canada the bridges that connect windsor and detroit are some of the most important bits of infrastructure in the region in fact they're so important that there's a kind of quiet competition underway to build the best one [Music] the newest bridge on the block is the gordy howe international pushing the bounds of engineering it's set to become the longest cable stayed bridge in north america but this is more than just a crossing it's also a business opportunity because yes bridges can make money and there's a lot of money to be made here this is how one construction project is transforming the us canadian border the u.s and canada have the largest trading relationship in the world in 2021 canada overtook china as the us's top trading partner exchanging 664 billion dollars worth of goods nearly a quarter of that trade happens here detroit is a huge automaker so a lot of vehicles and auto parts are shipped back and forth along with things like cosmetics vaccines and even blood every day more than 300 million dollars worth of goods travel between windsor and detroit that means a lot of taxes and tolls are being paid on bridges like this that toll revenue often goes towards paying back the cost of construction and maintaining the structure but while most toll bridges were taken over by state highway departments in the 20th century there are still a handful of toll bridges owned by private companies like the 92 year old ambassador bridge just a couple of miles away from the new gordy hell it's been privately run since 1929 and was taken over by billionaire manuel maron in the late 70s today trucks pay 45 dollars just to cross it and there are a lot of trucks that cross the ambassador bridge in 2021 an average of 263 trucks crossed the four lane bridge every hour on particularly busy days it's more like 500 trucks an hour all of that traffic is good for business but not so much for travel time and that's where the gaudy hal bridge comes in originally proposed nearly two decades ago it'll provide an alternative to the overcrowded ambassador bridge and getting it built is a massive undertaking the project's divided up into four main components road work at a new interchange in michigan the u.s point of entry the canadian point of entry and of course the bridge itself once complete it'll be the longest cable stayed bridge in north america stretching 853 meters across the detroit river the 5.4 billion dollar project is expected to finish in 2024 but it hasn't been an easy path to get here there's been one major roadblock along the way remember mamral the guy who owned the ambassador bridge well he also owned the duty free shops at the end of the bridge and tunnels because why not own it all made a lot of money off this trade corridor he didn't want someone else taking potential traffic away from his empire so when a new bridge was proposed back in 2004 he did everything he could to stop it he sued the governments of canada and michigan to try and block its construction instead of a new publicly owned bridge he came up with the idea of building a second stretch of the ambassador bridge which he would own he spent millions of dollars trying to pass a ballot measure that would make it harder to get the bridge approved but the measure didn't pass he even ran a cable tv advert asking then president trump to block its construction dear mr president there are two grand new bridges being proposed in detroit between america and canada after nearly two decades of battles maron's efforts failed and construction began in 2018. the next year trump allocated 15 million dollars in federal funds for the gaudy hal bridge for all the time and effort that went into the political fight the engineering challenge of actually building the bridge still lay ahead the structure will be held up by a series of cables fanning out directly from two main towers which will bear the weight of the road now that's different from a suspension bridge where the cables spread out across a suspender between the towers for a while suspension bridges were the go-to choice for mid-length crossings in america think the golden gate or george washington bridge but as cable stage bridge design became cheaper quicker and more efficient it began to make a comeback the gordy howe bridge will be anchored by two massive towers on opposite sides of the detroit river soaring 220 metres into the air they're designed to resemble the curvature of an ice hockey stick it's fitting given that this is canada and the bridge is named after a legendary hockey player the towers are said to become some of the tallest structures in the region but before building up the crew had to drill down to create a stable base for the towers they dug six drill shafts deep into the bedrock below each tower leg and then filled them with steel wires and concrete from there they built the base of the tower and started working their way up now because the towers are so tall there's a system of hydraulic pipes used to pump concrete from the ground all the way up to the top of the structure the head of the tower will have steel anchor boxes surrounded by concrete which will hold the base of the cable stays the cables will then be strung from the top of the tower directly to the road deck the main section of the bridge is going to be built over the water using something called the unbalanced cantilever method here's how it'll work starting from the towers on the shore segments of the bridge will be added one at a time until they meet in the middle at the edge of the road a crane will place steel girders and floor beams to form the base of the road then precast concrete slabs are added and fresh concrete is poured on top to fuse them together finally a crane will lift the cables from the road deck and secure them to the top of the tower that process is repeated until both sides connect in the middle each section can take up to 12 days to install and everything can be transported over the bridge itself so there's no need to move anything through the water below once complete there'll be six lanes of traffic and a path for pedestrians and cyclists [Music] this project comes at a crucial time for american infrastructure as bridges all across the country are reaching the end of their lifespan the gaudy hal bridge is an impressive feat of engineering but better yet it has the potential to shape one of the most important border crossings in the world maybe all that political drama will finally be water under the bridge if you enjoyed this video and you want to get more from the definitive video channel for construction make sure you subscribe to the b1m [Music] you

Channel: The B1M

Views: 1,174,401

Keywords: B1M, TheB1M, Construction, architecture, engineering, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, bridges, bridge design, cable-stayed bridge, suspension bridge, us-canada, border crossing, trade, north america, biden, trump, trudeau, manuel moroun, matty moroun, billionaire, toll bridge, duty free, semi trucks, trucking, logistics, supply chain, auto, detroit, windsor, michigan

Id: lipnIdz6_L4

Length: 7min 23sec (443 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 27 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/CrotchWolf]

No big secret there. He wanted to keep his monopoly he had on the Ambassador Bridge.

[u/AarunFast]

THe B1M is a pretty big engineering/architecture channel that covers huge projects from all over the world. Cool to see Detroit featured.

[u/jmarnett11]

Get fucked Moroun. Fix your shitty bridge instead of asking for taxpayer money to do it. Infrastructure shouldn’t be owned by private citizens.

[u/LemurianLemurLad]

Interesting video, but there was only about a minute on the topic of why a billionaire tried to stop it. Short version "the Morouns like money. They don't like competition." All that being said, it's a good bit of introductory info on the Gordie Howe Bridge and worth watching if you don't know much about the project.

[u/Trumpsafascist]

And may he burn in hell. Get fucked Matty

[u/pizzacat123]

Thanks so much for sharing this! How interesting

[u/GuySmileyPKT]

The video totally skips that Moroun managed to piss off Canada… CANADA! So badly that they’re fronting 4-5 billion dollars to build this bridge… IIRC there won’t be a toll fee going into Canada but there will be one to cross into the US to recoup construction cost.

[u/irazzleandazzle]

I love this channel. Glad they covered this!

[u/Frank_chevelle]

Very informative