How Recycled Materials Helped Build a Bridge to the Future
Later this year, the Gordie Howe International Bridge will open, connecting Windsor, Ontario, Canada and Detroit, Michigan, United States.
The 1.5-mile bridge will be the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America and will play a critical part in broader sustainability efforts as well as making it faster and easier to move goods between Canada and the US—and recycled materials helped make it possible.
The bridge’s two iconic towers each contain nearly 5,000 tons of steel reinforcing bars (rebar), which consists of nearly 100% recycled steel. Additionally, the bridge and road decks all use steel that is largely made up of recycled steel.
The corbels that support the bridge deck near the tower legs are another example of the project utilizing recycled material in construction, with each corbel for the bridge including 121,254 pounds of stainless-steel rebar, which is made from more than 95% recycled steel.
In addition, the bridge’s deck is built from a blend of recycled plastic and reclaimed wood fibers, which limits the bridge’s environmental impact while ensuring its safety and stability. Named for Detroit Red Wing hockey great Gordie Howe, the bridge will create a direct, freeway-to-freeway connection between the two cities.
It will also add additional lane capacity and feature sophisticated intelligent transportation systems. A report from the University of Windsor’s Cross Border Institute found these three factors will save 850,000 hours per year for trucks.
Potomac Metals does a good job of community outreach and educating homeowners, regular customers, and our youth. That’s big part of what I do.
Sarah Zwilsky, President, Potomac Metals
The climate strategy of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA) is guided by three main goals and objectives: designing for durability and resiliency, conserving non-renewable resources by reducing energy and water demands, and protecting the natural world by using green infrastructure stormwater management design. And the use of recycled materials in the bridge’s construction supports this effort.