Taking The Gridlock Out Of Trade

One of the things Alois Kudzia liked best about his job was looking down into the smokestacks of the freighters as they passed under him. Protected by a full-body harness, the 63-year-old ironworker perched 230 feet above the treacherous currents of the St. Clair River as he inserted bolts into steel beams. Kudzia worked for seven months above the 60-ft.-deep St. Clair, one of 240 American and Canadian construction workers laboring on the second span of the Blue Water Bridge connecting Port Huron, Mich., with Point Edward, Ont.

But Kudzia was on terra firma gazing up on July 12 and 13, when choirs, bands, fireworks, and a ceremonial walk across the bridge heralded the opening of the 6,109-ft. span. A 1938 bridge and two underwater railway tunnels (one built in 1995, the other in 1891) already linked Port Huron with Point Edward. But the new $80 million Blue Water Bridge allows traffic at the crossing to double, to more than 17,000 cars and trucks a day. Eastbound traffic will run on the new span, westbound on the old. The Blue Water Bridge is expected to become the fourth-busiest international crossing in North America.