The Most Stunning Bridge in North America Is a Border Crossing

Most border crossings are things you endure. This one is something you look at. That’s what AECOM’s Erik Behrens set out to create with the Gordie Howe International Bridge, the new crossing between Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, that opened to traffic on July 27, 2026 — and promptly became the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America.

The numbers are easy to reach for. An 853-meter main span. Twin towers standing 220 meters tall. A total length of 2.5 kilometers, six lanes of traffic, a dedicated pedestrian and cycling path, and a projected lifespan of 125 years. The construction cost ran to CA$6.4 billion, funded entirely by the Canadian federal government and to be recovered through tolls. It links Interstate 75 on the American side to Highway 401 in Ontario — freeway to freeway, no traffic lights, no city streets swallowing the flow. But the engineering is almost beside the point when you see it.

Designer: Erik Behrens of AECOM

Behrens, a German architect working as chief bridge architect at AECOM, shaped the towers to echo the curvature of a hockey stick mid-slapshot — a direct nod to Gordie Howe, the Canadian-born legend who spent 25 years with the Detroit Red Wings and died two years before construction began in 2018. The A-shaped towers rise on opposite banks of the Detroit River, anchoring 216 stay cables in crisp white that catch the light and shift as you move around them, producing what Behrens describes as “a subtly shifting moiré” — a quiet kinetic elegance that reveals itself from every angle.

“The bridge captivates through a precise interplay of form, light and movement,” Behrens said. “Its paired arrays of white stay cables endow the structure with a sculptural depth that reveals itself from every angle.” The cables are slender enough to read as almost transparent against the sky, gravity-defying in appearance if not in fact.

The structure’s lighting was commissioned to Canadian artist Douglas Coupland, who designed ‘Shimmer’ — a programmable show using nearly 5,000 white bridge lights. “It’s a relief to see infrastructure that feels like it belongs to this century,” Coupland said.

Public art is woven throughout: Indigenous artwork by Walpole Island and Caldwell First Nation artists adorns the Canadian tower; Southwest Detroit artist Roberto Villalobos handled the American side. A 3-meter sculpture by Anishinaabe artist Michael Belmore greets arrivals into Canada. “Bridges must do more than function,” Behrens said. “They must belong, endure, and inspire.” The Gordie Howe International Bridge does all three.