🚧Construction of the Windsor Detroit Tunnel
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- čas přidán 11. 10. 2016
- The Windsor Detroit Tunnel first opened to traffic on November 3, 1930. Construction took 26 months and cost $23,000,000. As you travel almost a mile, 75 feet below the surface of the Detroit River, you're surrounded by 574 lights, 80,000 cubic yards of concrete, and 750 tons of reinforced steel. The Tunnel provides one of the fastest links between Canada and the United States.The Tunnel is 5,160 feet long (1,573 meters) with a height clearance of 12 feet 8 inches (3.86 meters). The roadway is 22 feet wide (6.7 meters) and allows for two lanes of traffic in opposite directions. The maximum depth of the roadway beneath the river surface is 75 feet (22.8 meters).
What an incredible engineering feat this was! To know that my grandfather was a part of this, makes me very proud. I can only imagine every time we drove through tunnel, what he was feeling.
Beautiful
To me, there was nothing scarier than being stuck in a traffic jam in the tunnel going over to Canada with the front of the car in Canada and the rear in the U.S. aaaarrggh! I was always afraid that the tunnel would collapse. 😂
Thanks for the video I grew up in Windsor and took the Tunnel Bus to many Tigers, Redwings games and too many concerts to list. It's the best way get in and out of Downtown Detroit.
The highlight of going to Canada was always the tunnel. Watching for the flags on the walls was a great, quick game. "We're in Canada!" "We're in the US!" The tunnel is a great memory for many of us Detroiters.
That's neat! Yes! I like the tunnel WAY BETTER than the bridge! I like the fact that it's an underwater tunnel, which connects two countries, and has the flag signs for each country at the border!
Yes! I grew up in Windsor, as a kid travelled to Detroit frequently, and LOVED the tunnel. I always was disappointed when it was announced we’d be using the bridge instead. There’s something ominous about the tunnel.
hahaha.....you summed it up perfectly....
the best part of going to Canada was the tunnel...hahaha. It's TRUE!
@@danb6838 No, the best part of the tunnel was coming home to Canada, without being shot or mugged in Detroit!
@@tomrogers9467 .....yeah, I agree. Americans cần get a little carried away with our Macho attitude.
I guess it's because we've been successfully saving the WORLD for 200 years!! AND...best of all, we're BACK TO BACK WORLD WAR CHAMPS!!👍👏💥🤘✌💪😎👊☝
I've lived in the Detroit area and have passed through this tunnel many times. Great to see how they did this.
One of my dad's best friends owned a welding company started by his grandfather. Their first contract was working on this tunnel.
My dad came to Canada from England in the 1920’s and ended up in Windsor and actually sat down at the river and watched them bring sections by barge to the tunnel site and as he told me sank them, had divers fasten them and continue to do that. I also have a picture of the bridge without the centre span attached.
very interesting!! amazing you have such a cool photo as well
Thanks for sharing. An a born and bred Detroiter I've learned through our family tree an our History My Great great grandfather helped build this tunnel.
I’m in the tunnel right now lol
My grandfather, T.P Pinckard, was the manager of the Detroit Windsor Tunnel for years.
Thanks to poster, as Detroiter I've always wondered about the construction.
Nice presentation!
Great job on bringing this on CZcams !
I love this!
I was always fascinated at how they were able to make this tunnel under all that water, been in Detroit all my life haven't used the tunnel in years, but the last time I did there were a few small cracks where water 💦 was coming through an it made me a little uneasy.
What a great little doc! my mom used to take the tunnel every day to work in Detroit as a nurse in a hospital. My grandfather and his buddies used it to go drinking in the speakeasies...
Wow, what a massive PITA. List of most bad-ass jobs in 1928: Lion Tamer, Anti-Mine Technician, and those guys diving in a river, with giant metal helmets, to bolt together giant 8000-ton tubes. No thanks, so glad they did it.
The tunnel had its charm plus it was closer for me. But I really enjoyed the bridge much more. I loved the view from up there over the river. Best time was sunrise or sunset time.
I haven't lived in Windsor for 25 years, but used the tunnel frequently. I just took it for granted that was always there. It's interesting that it took 26 months to build. The new bridge is going to take 6 years. Hopefully the US will have Covid under control by the time it's finished so we can use it.
Windsor misses ya!
The goons in the US are using Covid as an excuse to try to keep *us* under control.
One unintended consequence is several breaks in the national supply chain, which are likely to make construction of the new bridge last at least 10 years longer.
"Miss me yet?" (President Trump)
@@elwoodblues9613 ....One of my ferrets shares your name.
People who think they can control nature always make an impression on me.
The ones that allow themselves to be controlled by other humans, not so much.
@@elwoodblues9613, answer to your question: NO
For the time it was built, 1930, this is a super mega project, considering the money it cost, and the lack of knowledge, because it was a pioneer project.
God bless all who those who took place in this construction.
I have seen several Vid om the 'tunnel', this is the best so far.
I grew up in Detroit and when I was a kid I used to have nightmares about the tunnel. Just something about the close quarters and all that water overhead used to freak me out. Truth be told, I'm not sure I would use it today.
Haha you’d have a heart attack traveling across anywhere in southeast Virginia. Everything is connected with bridge tunnels, some the oldest in the world. (1960’s)
Same! It was the water running down the walls of the tunnel in places that would freak me out!
@@noahjohns7954 lol considering I'm from the 1960s that doesn't seem very old to me. Now, 1920s on the other hand ...
I bet. I used to have nightmares as a kid having been thru shorter tunnels. Then went thru this tunnel into Windsor a few years ago and had massive panic attack going thru tunnel. Still freak out even thinking about it.
@@nancyandrews398 yes but for something driven on every day by hundreds upon hundreds of cars sitting in salt water that corrodes everything and hit by hurricanes, that’s a long time. It was built well but it’s getting expanded soon.
Amazing engineering for that era 100 years ago! They were building the Ambassador bridge at the same time! Must of been a race of sorts
Awesome
Grew up in the 80s in Harrison Township. Grandma lived in Windsor so the young version of me spent A LOT of time in the tunnel.
The 8 year old version of me always noticed two things back then:
1) The white wall tiles looked cleaner and had less missing tiles as soon as you crossed to the Canada side.
2) The Canadian border agents seemed far tougher and humorless to me than the US ones!
Canadians in general are polite BUT dry...
Used the tunnel just last week to fo to the Windsor Casino
Yes, I remember,the Windsor/Detroit Tunnel. Growing up,in Detroit,my family,and I,visited Windsor,on a,weekly basis. Visiting friends,who lived in Canada. G
Born and raised in detroit. Crazy I never watched this before
Remarkable!
I"ve driven a tractor with a 40' flat-bed trailer through this tunnel several times and for those who know that spiral entrance on the U.S. side you might not believe me but, although it's tight, it's possible .
😲
my grandpa was a cement worker on the building of the tunnel , where have all the real men gone 😢
Windsor túnel construcion en español admirable
Nobody’s even saying that this engineering marvel was completed before computers. The projects were all done by hand, like some of the digging.
Fun fact there is multiple tunnels from michigan to canada. One of which is abandoned and likely flooded.
At that time tunnel constructed not digging like by a monster mole, very interesting. When I was there the homeless man told me I could walk to Canada, so later with a passport I tried to cross the border on foot, but stopped by the police and had to take a bus which was most expensive bus against so short distance, no senior discount, $10 for return.
He wasn’t homeless. He’s an actor and he gets a cut.
I'm now scared to take the tunnel
Waterlec well what about the ambassador bridge?
After reading its specs that's quite the task considering the time of yr it was built. Just a VERY little over 2 yrs!
Been through the tunnel once, but i don't think i'll ever do it again
Given the choice in the winter between a snowy Ambassador Bridge, and a snowless, iceless tunnel pavement, I'll take the tunnel, tyvm. Btw, rarely do you see truck traffic in the tunnel. At most, an occasional bus, but that's it. Sixty-year native of Wayne County, I've been on both, a number of times.
Detroit and Windsor were so different then. Optimistic, forward-looking, ready for what would be their golden age. Now they are just hanging on, struggling to define themselves.
What a fucking lie. Both cities are doing great.
Where did you start from and end at.
How long the tunnel
Driving through the tunnel at 2 a.m. at 90 miles an hour, no cops down there.
and putting on your turn signal, I loved doing that!!
Yes. Always a lot of fun with a turbo car. Then there were the times we would roof surf. Before cameras were in place. lol
And blow your horn...
So this damn thing is almost 100yrs old 😳
Can you just imagine how much faster it may had been built in our time now? Maybe only by a yr or a little more, After all they had to dig into the river and one must give way to physic's.
I get to ride my bike through the tunnel during the Detroit Marathon escorting the hand cycles. We're always in about 8th place or so, so basically, it's just me and my hand cyclist having the tunnel all to ourselves. And we always overheat because it's so much warmer down there and then freeze when we get back to street level.
Also, I realize Joplin's music was popular at the time when this video was produced, but did they have to run it on a loop?
Me n my grandson will be going through it next year wen it's completed.He has no fear he's a true Super Hero
There's a tunnel between Windsor and Detroit? I never knew that. Oi Vay!!! Boston's more recent tunnel(s) only cost $22 billion and took 22 years to build. "This tunnel will be a bargain". Sen. John Kerry.
Fun facts: If you were to note your vehicle's compass, while passing through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel, you will see that you are heading due NORTH into the USA; or due SOUTH into Canada. there's a new rail tunnel currently being built between Detroit & Windsor to accommodate double stacked container cars. Amtrak is currently negotiating the use of the old rail tunnel for passenger service to Windsor.
@@TheHawk--oe8iq oi vay!!
It has always made me nervous using the tunnel. I imagine water will come in while I'm halfway in😳
I have never used it but and think it would b cool to drive thru it. But at the sametime I am thinkin we will run out of air or water will leak in big time, especially when fearing of being stuck in the tunnel for a long time.
Those undercurrents are murder especially at high tide thats what makes this architecture so amazing.
No tides in the Great Lakes.
@@jamesbelisle9704 oh ok.
@@jamesbelisle9704 right.
I can't imagine myself underneath that river not me nooooooooooo way.
I would rather to ride the Tunnel than that bridge Ambassador Bridge aint safe one false move you're done theyre s no. Safety barriers
Where I come from, we call that safety barrier "learning how to swim."
When I was going to the University of Windsor, I took the tunnel and the bridge many times. The bridge was actually scarier for me- there were a LOT of holes in the paving you could see the river through... but if you were going to Ann Arbor or anywhere else besides downtown Detroit, it was the only real option.
Music too loud
I remember in the late 80s a passenger stuck her head out of the window on the bend into Detroit and was killed. I think that’s the only time something like that happened.
Actually, it was a guy...he introduced me to my ex...true story !
@@erikalm7188 Crazy! That tunnel has always freaked me out. Always take the bridge.
All of this done without computers is just mind-boggling not shocking though.. And walkie-talkies we’re not invented until 1937 So basically this was done with pencil paper and landline telephones only
It would be cooler if it was a clear tube
it would be cool... looking up and seeing lake freighters going over your head, and who knows what you might see laying on the bottom???
Documentaries were so dorky in the past.
Wouldn't a bridge have been a lot easier?
We have a bridge.. the ambassador bridge
Another bridge, the Gordie Howe Bridge, is being constructed not far from the Ambassador Bridge.
Off topic but dam that smoke coming out of those tugs is horrendous, im sure cancer amongst the workers was sky-high!
Nothing is wrong with this Tunnel it's straight
Easy Peasy.
Broadcast to hundreds of people across North America??? Hundreds of thousands. Otherwise well done.
I would've finished watching it, if it weren't for the annoying bloody soundtrack..
Back in the day when Canadians could enter the US without getting the third degree from BPS goons!
I HATE this stupid ragtime crap song you hear on every single bit of early 20th century documentary footage. There was more music back then, right? Please?
Surprised they would share a tunnel with us, that they wouldn't think they might catch covid from interacting with our gun loving selves.
RIP to the 5 little rat kids born after 2000 looking for free information for a school project who disliked this video because they have zero lineage nor any comprehension of history whatsoever.
That number is going up, it's now up to 8 kids, How sad!
I see what you are.
I'm guessing nobody in Canada has seen the movie daylight with Sylvester Stallone like I know it's in a totally different country but that's why this tunnel is literally the worst idea ever invented so that man who invented this can hopefully rest in his grave knowing that you will most likely kill thousands of people one day I never use a tunnel ever. Too much gas is down there the lines are all backed up and nobody wants to get crushed by a whole bunch of water just remember the movie Daybreak Sylvester Stallone is only an actor he he will not be able to save you