The Ambassador Bridge is a 1.4-mile steel/concrete suspension bridge that spans the Detroit River, connecting the US city of Detroit, Michigan with the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario. Originally opened in 1929, the Ambassador Bridge is now one of the most economically important bridges and border crossings in the United States and Canada, carrying over 25% of the total US/Canada trade in terms of value. It forms a particularly vital link for the American and Canadian automotive manufacturing industries. Somewhat unusually for a major transportation route and international crossing, the Ambassador Bridge has been operated as a for-profit commercial enterprise since its original construction; currently the bridge is owned by Matthew Moroun, whose company also owns and operates the duty-free shops at either end of the bridge.
The bridge was originally painted black and remained that way until 1995, when it was repainted teal as part of a 5-year renovation. Design-wise, this is a fairly standard suspension bridge with steel truss approaches, but I'm quite fond of the rather elaborate Art Deco styling of the concrete supports/anchorages at either end of the suspension span. I can only imagine that the rebar and concrete pouring work for these must have been a real pain, especially for the late 1920's.
Features
- Detailed hand-modeled recreation of the Ambassador Bridge, approaches, interchange with I-75/I-96 on the Detroit end, and adjacent Bagley St. pedestrian bridge, as well as the US and Canada customs complexes. (whitearcades-ambassadorbridge)
- NEW For those with World Update 11 installed (which already includes a model of the Ambassador Bridge), this scenery now includes a separate package to add missing ramps, customs buildings, and enhanced lights to Asobo's model of the bridge. (whitearcades-ambassadorbridge-wu11)
- LOD models used
- Some static trucks placed (from native library) to flesh out the inspection and duty-free shop areas on the US side.
- Customized night lighting (illuminated signs on the two suspension towers, roadway lighting, 'necklace' lights on suspension cables, plus marine warning lights as needed)
- Some terraforming and vegetation tweaks as needed.
- Landmark/POI marker placed on World Map
New in Update 1.1
- Added World Update 11 compatible scenery package to add some items back in that Asobo's otherwise excellent model of the bridge did not include (some approach ramps, I-75/I-96 interchange, pedestrian bridge). Note that this doesn't replace their model of the bridge itself; it doesn't seem like it's possible to place an exclusion polygon that will remove it, and besides, I think it's a very good model.
- Some adjustments to material properties and texture mapping for various models.
- Adjusted terraforming polygons
Installation
Download the ZIP file and extract either "whitearcades-ambassadorbridge" or "whitearcades-ambassadorbridge-wu11" to your Community folder:
For the Microsoft Store version: C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_\LocalCache\Packages\Community
For the Steam version: C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages\Community
(If you have a previous version of this scenery in your folder, make sure to remove it before copying the current version in.)
How To Donate
If you enjoy this addon or my other scenery addons, please consider using the PayPal link below or on my profile page to donate. I make scenery addons for the fun of it, not specifically looking to monetize my work, but keep in mind that putting these sceneries together requires a significant investment of time, effort, and research, and every bit helps.
Thanks, and enjoy!
Other Scenery By Me
(List is too long to individually link each one, but you can find them all by going to my profile or by doing a search)
Knott's Berry Farm
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Cedar Point
Kings Island
Six Flags Over Texas
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Globe Life Park (new Texas Rangers ballpark)
Coronado Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge Night Lighting Enhancements
Bay Bridge Night Lighting Enhancements
Antioch Bridge
San Mateo Bridge
Dumbarton Bridge
Richmond - San Rafael Bridge
Carquinez Bridge
Benicia-Martinez Bridge
17 days ago
CaptainMoonlight
The Canada World Update now includes an updated Ambassador bridge, but isn't lit up as nicely as yours. Could yours be updated to block out the stock bridge so that there aren't two bridges overlapping eachother?
2 years ago
I'm actually downloading the world update to have a look at this right now. If it's possible, I will put out an update to give people the option of excluding, or alternatively just do what I've done with a couple other official bridge sceneries and put out an enhancement pack to add lights.
2 years ago
TheWhiteArcades
mcphatty
Very nice, thanks.
2 years ago
fStopper
Fantastic work! Thank you.
2 years ago
RichardPlantagenet
i have been waiting 4 this 1, thx so much
2 years ago
JNBennett64
Fantastic...Detroit has really come alive in MSFS2020!
2 years ago
JScottEdmunds
Gorgeous
2 years ago
Carlos17
Thanks. Another good one.
2 years ago
gryper