The Ambassador Bridge is privately owned; it is not owned by either the U.S. or Canadian governments.

Who actually owns it?

  • The bridge is owned and operated by the Detroit International Bridge Company on the U.S. side and the Canadian Transit Company on the Canadian side.
  • For decades, effective control of these companies — and therefore of the Ambassador Bridge — has been held by the family of the late Detroit trucking and real‑estate magnate Manuel “Matty” Moroun.
  • The bridge was originally built and financed by private investors in the 1920s and was later acquired (and eventually fully privatized) by Moroun in 1979.

In simple terms: the Ambassador Bridge is a rare major international border crossing that is still in private hands, dominated for many years by the Moroun family through their bridge companies.

TL;DR: When people ask “who owns the Ambassador Bridge,” the practical answer is: the Moroun family , via the Detroit International Bridge Company and related entities, not the governments of the U.S. or Canada.

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