Did you ever wonder why the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel doesn't have a better name?

By David McClelland

Recently, as we traveled through the tunnel from Detroit, Michigan to Windsor, Ontario, Canada and back, I wondered why the tunnel has no name other than the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. That name just doesn't seem proper. The tunnel connects The United States and Canada, not just the two cities.

The bridge from Detroit connecting the two countries is called The Ambassador Bridge. That seems entirely fitting. Don't you think we should come up with a more fitting name for the tunnel as well? Let's think about some more appropriate names for this tunnel.

First, let's look at its history. The tunnel was completed and opened to traffic on November 3, 1930 and the first car through was a 1929 Studebaker touring car. The tunnel is 22 feet wide allowing just one lane of traffic in each direction. The original road surface was composed of 2,000,000 granite blocks. It was later paved with asphalt in 1977. The granite blocks are stored in the Ft. Wayne Historical Museum. Approximately 250,000 tiles were used to line the walls of the tunnel. One and one-half million cubic feet of air is pumped through the tunnel every minute and the air is completely changed every 90 seconds. Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy and Windsor Mayor Cecil Jackson were on hand for the opening ceremony of the tunnel on November 1, 1930.

This tunnel is the second busiest crossing between the United States and Canada, next to the nearby Ambassador Bridge. The tunnel, which is owned jointly by the two countries, carries about 28,000 vehicles each day at a cost of $4 per automobile, each way.

When constructed, this tunnel was only the third underwater vehicular tunnel constructed in the United States (after the Holland Tunnel between New Jersey and New York and the Posey Tube between Oakland and Alameda, California). Before its construction and that of The Ambassador Bridge one year earlier, all vehicular crossings were by ferry. An earlier attempt to build the tunnel in 1871 was abandoned when the workers suffered from sulphurous gas poisoning that made them deathly ill and they refused to work.

Actual construction on the current tunnel began in 1928. Because of the international nature of the tunnel, 28 buildings were also required for customs and immigration offices. 700,000 tons of earth had to be dredged away and the total cost of construction of the tunnel was $25 million. Today, the cost would be over $300 million.

The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is 120 feet short of a mile long. At it lowest point, it is 75 feet below the Detroit River's surface. The tunnel is currently owned by the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, LLC, which is the joint venture between the City of Detroit and the City of Windsor, each owning 50%. Motorcycles are prohibited from using the tunnel. There is currently no means provided to ride a bicycle between Detroit and Windsor.

Now that we know more about the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, what are some more appropriate names that could given to it? Here are some names I thought of:

Good Neighbors Tunnel The Goodwill Tunnel Veterans Memorial Tunnel
The Peace Tunnel The Freedom Tunnel Veterans Freedom Tunnel
North American Tunnel Two Nations Tunnel The International Tunnel

The next three are in jest, as if you couldn't determine that on your own:

Tunnel of Love Carpal Tunnel Tunnel Out

I'll bet that you can come up with the perfect name for this tunnel if you try.
Please e-mail your suggestions to david.h.mcclelland@gmail.com