The main span of the Gordie Howe International Bridge will cross the Detroit River, running nearly 2,800 feet with no piers beneath it — the longest such span in North America. Overall, the bridge will be the continent’s 5^th longest, stretching 1.5 miles between Detroit and Windsor, Canada. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2018 on the six-lane bridge.

Bridging North America has been named as the consortium that will build the bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Canada. Fluor Corporation and ACS Infrastructure Canada head a team of companies that includes ACS unit Dragados, AECOM, Canada-based Aecon and Turner Construction.

Canada and Michigan will jointly own the bridge, with Canada financing it. Michigan’s share will be paid for with toll collections on the future bridge.

A final cost estimate of the project will not be public until the final contract is signed in late 2018, but a report in the Windsor Star estimates the total cost could range from anywhere between $2.1 billion to $4.5 billion USD.

The project has not been without its own share of controversy. The Moroun family, which owns the 87-year-old Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, has sued unsuccessfully to try to stop the project. The head of the family is U.S. billionaire Manuel Maroun who wants to build a new bridge that would replace the Ambassador Bridge and for Trump to revoke Canada’s license granted by President Obama in 2013 to build the Howe bridge.

The Gordie Howe project has also faced internal challenges, including a protracted public-private partnership process that pushed its likely completion past the original estimated 2020 timeframe and contributed to the departure last year of then-CEO Michael Cautillo.