Windsor-Essex Parkway Project

The Windsor-Essex Parkway (WEP) Project is the roadway component of the new Detroit River International Crossing. This $1.4 billion project will create a direct route connecting Highway 401 in Windsor, ON, to Interstate 75 in Detroit, MI. The WEP will carry 28% of Canada’s trade with the United States and will include direct freeway access to modern border crossing facilities, a new international river crossing, and will reduce travel times through this key corridor. In addition, tunnelled roadways will create 300 acres of green space with 20 km of pedestrian and cycle trails.

Hatch Mott MacDonald is serving as the design lead as part of a Public-Private Partnership, which includes design, construction, financing, operation, maintenance, and rehabilitation, with a planned concession term of 35 years.

The WEP project includes: 

• Approximately 11 km of six-lane extension of Highway 401 including access points consisting of direct on and off ramps; about 7.5 km of the urban freeway will be constructed between 4-8m below grade
• Approximately 7.5 km of new four-lane service road (Highway 3)
• Three new interchanges
• A modern roundabout
• A carpool parking lot
• Improvements to municipal roads
• 11 (cut-and-cover) tunnels with a total length of approximately 1.8km
• 12 new overpass / underpass structures
• Three-cell box culverts and two submerged culvert
• Seven stormwater management ponds and five pump stations
• Full conventional illumination
• Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS)
• 20km of recreational trails,
• Three gateway landscape complexes and ecological landscapes
• Noise mitigation measures
• Wildlife protection