Canada Offers $550 Million Toward New Bridge

(Journal of Commerce Online – Courtney Tower)

Additional funding for Detroit River International Crossing

Canada offered the state of Michigan up to $550 million as a sweetener to get the legislature to give final approval to the building of a controversial new bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. The Canadian government is willing to increase its share of the cost of the proposed Detroit River International Crossing by that amount, Federal Transport Minister John Baird said Thursday.

The total cost of the project is expected to be $5.3 billion, by far the largest part on the Canadian side because it will cost more than $1 billion to build an extensive new approach road through Windsor. The approach would be partly underground to buffer noise for residents and would replace the present route, which follows city streets past 16 stoplights.

Michigan Governor Granholm went before the state House of Representatives Transportation Committee to read into the record a letter from Baird offering the additional $550 million to bankroll Michigan’s costs of the project.

Baird in Ottawa said Canada “is committed to build a new bridge crossing at the Windsor-Detroit border, and this funding commitment is another step we are taking to accelerate the start of its construction.” The “increased financial participation would be for project components in Michigan, and will be repaid to Canada over time,” the Canadian government said. Baird told reporters the repaying over time would be through tolls collected.

Read more here and here.