U.S. and Canada: Building a bridge

The U.S. and Canadian governments signed an arrangement to proceed with construction of a new publicly-owned bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit.    The U.S. and Canadian governments signed an arrangement Wednesday to proceed with the construction of a new publicly-owned bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit.
   The terms of the agreement state that the U.S. inspection plaza will be procured as part of a public-private partnership that will design, finance, construct, operate and maintain the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC)/New International Trade Crossing (NITC) project. According to Lisa Raitt, Canada’s minister of transport, the cost of the U.S. port of entry will be repaid through toll revenues and not by Canadian taxpayers.
   Raitt said the arrangement “allows Canada and Michigan to move the project forward immediately to its next steps which include further design work and property acquisition on the U.S. side of the border.”
   She added that the new bridge “will provide a much-needed crossing alternative at one of the busiest commercial border crossings in North America and support national security and public safety priorities in Canada and the U.S.”