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Completed in 1930, the tunnel was for decades the only underwater tunnel between two nations in the world, until the Channel Tunnel (or "Chunnel") between England and France was completed in 1994. It was only the third passenger tunnel in the U.S. although several other freight tunnels were in use including the Grand Trunk Railway Tunnel in Port Huron, Michigan and the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel in Detroit, itself. The tunnel was made of sections of steel tube floated into place and sunk into a trench dug in the river bottom. The river section of the tunnel was connected to bored tunnels on both banks. The trench was filled with 4 to 20 foot of mud. Because the tunnel essentially sits on the river bottom, there is a wide no-anchor zone enforced on river traffic.
The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is 5,160 feet long (1,573 m). At its lowest point, the two-lane roadway is 75 feet (22.8 m) below the river surface.