The Gordie Howe International Bridge will officially connect Canada and the United States in the next four to six weeks.
Construction workers are completing the last 26 meters of the bridge deck, about the span of an NHL rink.
Crews need to install one final segment on the US side before installing the mid-span closure.
"We have a lot of work after the closure actually takes place," said David Henderson, CEO of Bridging North America. "We have to stitch the joints, we have to post-tension the deck, transversely and longitudinally and then there's an overlay, railing and lights and a lot of other features."
Once the physical connection is made over the Detroit River, the bridge becomes an international crossing. This means the Canadian Border Service Agency and the US Customs and Border Protection will be on site.
"For our workers who will be doing the balance of the work to complete the bridge they'll have to go through security checkpoints with border control at both sides of the border," said Henderson.
Over 11,000 people have been trained to work on the project. They've completed over 13 million hours of work since construction began in 2018.
'It's been amazing. It's a massive project and it's rare that you work on a project that's in between two countries. So it's been great working with people from all different backgrounds," said Manuel Bello, a field engineer on the project.
Construction is slated to end in the early fall of 2025, 10 months after the originally scheduled completion.
