Detroit-Windsor Tunnel (despositphotos)
Detroit-Windsor Tunnel (despositphotos)
It will be an inconvenience, but apparently it has to be done.
A $16.8-million project at the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to replace an 85-year-old ceiling slab will force the border crossing to shut down for eight months on weeknights from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., staring in November and running through June 2018, Dave Battagello writes in The Windsor Star.
A recent inspection shows a dire need to replace 4,000 feet of the underwater tube..
The project will pose an inconvenience for hockey fans, gamblers, workers who commute to Metro Detroit and others. There is, however, the possibility that the tunnel would remain open at night for special events.
The closure will force people to take the Ambassador Bridge.
"We will be removing the entire concrete ceiling in the tunnel’s river section and replacing it, says Neal Belitsky, president and CEO for the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. "That’s why it will be a full closure and we can’t go one lane" at a time.
Additionally, there will be four full weekend closures of the tunnel stretching from 9 p.m. Friday until Monday morning at 5:30 a.m. to remove the existing ceiling, the paper reports. The first weekend closure is expected to occur in mid-November.