The Tunnel has one of the most elaborate ventilation systems ever devised resulting in the air in the tunnel to be cleaner than the air at street level. Ventilation towers are located at each end of the tunnel. Each tower is approximately 100 feet high, on a site 50x90 feet. Each tower, with its equipment, provides ventilation for half of the tunnel. The equipment consists of motor-driven fresh air fans and exhaust fans arranged in successive tiers in different storeys with direct connections to the fresh air ducts in the tunnel.
Fresh air comes into the tunnel under the roadway through apertures near the curb.
Used or vitiated air is thrown off through two rows of openings located at frequent intervals in the ceiling. While the fresh air is drawn into the ventilation buildings, the vitiated air is expelled through exhausts located at the top of each building. The safety factor of the tunnel is so great that there is no possibility of the air becoming gaseous even if most of the fans were to stop functioning. The ventilating system is patterned after that in the Holland Tunnel in New York. The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel was formally dedicated on Saturday, November 1, 1930.