“Giant Tube at Windsor Tunnel Comes to Grief” in The Owasha Daily Times (November 29th, 1928)

Back in June, the blog featured an article from Mount Pleasant Daily Times commemorating the beginning of the construction of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Today’s piece, published five months later, chronicles a mishap in the construction process—the crashing of a 500-ton tunnel tube. Fortunately, nobody was hurt in the accident (and neither was the tube). While an unfortunate event, indeed, the crash reminds us just how marvelous this work of engineering truly was.

Transcript:

Five Hundred Ton Section Crashes Through Timbers to Rest in River

Windsor, Nov. 29. – Crashing through the heavy timbers of the launching ways, the first section of the Windsor-Detroit tunnel came to grief Wednesday. Men riding the monster were saved when the tube remained upright.

Hundreds of spectators lining the shore at Ojibway heard the crash as the massive cradles holding the 500-ton tube collapsed. With a mighty splash the tube came to rest, not on the open waters of the river, but on the splintered footsquare timbers on which it was to have slid triumphantly into the water.

Cradles Release Grip

When the last bolt was removed and the hydraulic jacks were applied to give the ungainly craft its initial impetus, the tube started smoothly enough. It gradually gained momentum. Instead of continuing its slide, it hesitated, stopped. It moved a few inches. There was a groaning and then a sharp crack of timbers. The cradle on one end slipped. The others failed. Then, in the midst of shattered beams, the tube splashed to rest a few feet from the Ojibway shore.

Failed to Move

Four tugs tackled the monster but failed to budge it from its resting place. It will be there for some time, for any method of removing it other than by means of tugs, which seems to be impossible, will necessarily be slow. However, it may be possible to dredge the mud away and remove the ways, as the tube will draw less than 10 feet of water. It cannot be re-rolled into the river, for it is curved and plates have been left off the top. The massive wooden bulkheads at each end were unharmed.

Life Massive Cylinder.

Robert Porter, of Porter Brothers, general contractors for the $20,000,000 vehicular tunnel, said that the tube would be refloated, probably in a few days. It may be necessary to lift the massive cylinder, which is 220 feet long and 31 feet in diameter, with heavy stiffening diaphragms every 12 feet, and rebuild the smashed skyways underneath it. But Mr. Porter hoped this would not be necessary.

A careful inspection of the tube has revealed the fact that it was undamaged by the accident.

The tube is one of 10 designed to serve as reinforcing for the 3-foot concrete walls of the tunnel. All the inside contracting will be done and part of the outer covering put on before the tubes are towed to place and sunk into a trench now being dredged to receive them in the Detroit River.

Original Article:

Citation:

“Giant Tube at Windsor Tunnel Comes to Grief.” Owasha Daily Times [Owasha, Ontario], 29 Nov. 1928, https://news.ourontario.ca/3778244/page/14?q=%22detroit+river%22&docid=OOI.3778244. Ontario Community Newspapers Portal. Accessed 13 October 2025.