Bridging the gap
Canada determined to complete Detroit-Windsor crossing.
By Eric Kulisch
Canada's top transportation infrastructure priority is the prompt construction of a six-lane bridge connecting the cities of Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, John Baird, the country's Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, said at a late March forum in Washington.
The U.S. and Canadian governments, along with state and local jurisdictions, have spent years identifying a suitable site location and developing plans for the $1.5 billion bridge, which is needed to handle future growth in trade and travel, and provide redundancy in case access is lost to the existing bridge, they say.
Building the Detroit River International Crossing, customs plazas and connecting roads 'is the most important public infrastructure project in Canada,' Baird said at a Brookings Institution forum on U.S.-Canada border management.
The project would help create badly needed jobs and provide capacity for expanded two-way trade between the two neighbors when the North American economy eventually rebounds, Baird said.
The privately owned and operated Ambassador Bridge is the largest commercial gateway on the northern border, handling $130 billion worth of trade each year ' a quarter of the total U.S.-Canada trade.
Last year, environmental assessments were completed on both sides of the border and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration in January gave its approval for the U.S. portion of the crossing, enabling Michigan to begin design and property acquisition work. Baird said Canadian officials expect to complete all necessary approvals this summer and hope all other U.S. and state approvals can also be completed in the same timeframe.
The binational commission shepherding the process has endorsed partnering with a private investor for the design, financing, construction and operation of the bridge. The Canadian government has committed to pay for half the cost of a $1.6 billion new highway to connect the bridge to the existing highway network.
Officials say they hope to start construction later this year and complete the project by 2014.
The project has faced opposition every step of the way by Manuel 'Matty' Maroun, whose Detroit International Bridge Co. owns the aging Ambassador bridge and plans to fund a second span of its own.
Other major border crossing projects in the works along the Mexican and Canadian borders include:
' In Laredo, Texas, the Kansas City Southern Railroad wants to build a new freight rail bridge and bypass around the city to replace the route through downtown. Laredo is the largest volume rail crossing on the U.S.-Mexico border. The railroad has applied to the U.S. State Department for a presidential permit to proceed with the $400 million project.
' With construction almost complete on a dedicated truck crossing outside San Luis and Yuma, Ariz., as well as a connector road to Interstate 8 and a state safety inspection station, local officials are setting their sights on reconfiguring the original San Luis port of entry for motorists and pedestrians. The Greater Yuma Port Authority is pursuing a $65 million appropriation in the fiscal year 2011 budget for construction. The U.S. General Services Administration began design work in March.
' The binational governing authority for the Peace Bridge between Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, N.Y., is pursuing expansion plans for a second bridge adjacent to the existing one. In 2007, about $700 million in goods crossed the bridge on 1.3 million trucks. The project is in its eighth year of a required environmental impact review, which is expected to finally be published in July, according to General Manager Ron Rienas. Final approval from the Federal Highway Administration could come by October, opening the door for the bridge authority to commence property acquisition through eminent domain, demolition and detailed design work. The bridge authority owns the land and acts as the landlord for the General Services Administration, which in turn sublets the facility to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Bridging the gap
