who owns the gordie howe bridge

The Gordie Howe International Bridge is publicly owned, not owned by any private company or individual.

Who legally owns the Gordie Howe Bridge?

• The bridge is a publicly owned international crossing between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan.

• Ownership is shared between:
  • The Government of Canada.

* The State of Michigan (on the U.S. side) as the American public partner.

In other words, it is a binational public asset, not “owned” by a single country, company, or political figure.

Who runs and manages it?

• Canada created the Windsor–Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA), a not‑for‑profit Crown corporation that is wholly owned by the Government of Canada.

• WDBA is responsible for:
  • Delivering the bridge project through a public‑private partnership.
  • Overseeing construction and future operations.
  • Setting and collecting tolls once the bridge is open.

So, WDBA manages the bridge on Canada’s behalf, but that does not make it a private owner; it is an arm of the Canadian federal government.

Public-private partnership vs. ownership

• A consortium called Bridging North America was contracted to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain the bridge for a set period (around 30 years), in exchange for regular payments.

• This consortium does not own the bridge; it is an infrastructure service provider under contract.

Think of it like a city hiring a company to build and maintain a public school. The company does the work, but the school itself still belongs to the public.

Why is “who owns the bridge” in the news?

• Recent political controversy has focused on the ownership and control of the bridge, with U.S. leaders arguing about how much of the asset the United States “should” own or control.

• Despite this rhetoric, current arrangements still describe the bridge as a joint public asset of Canada and Michigan, financed upfront by Canada with costs to be recovered through tolls.

Quick recap

• Legal/public owners: Government of Canada and the State of Michigan.

• Managing authority: Windsor–Detroit Bridge Authority, a Canadian federal Crown corporation.

• Private partner: Bridging North America, which builds and operates it under contract but does not own it.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.