Ambassador Bridge Cleared for New Customs Plaza

(Brent Jang — Globe & Mail)

Canadian Border Authority Grants Approval for Facility in Windsor, But Hurdles Remain

The Canada Border Services Agency has approved plans by the Ambassador Bridge for a new customs plaza in Windsor, Ont., even though the move helps a Michigan billionaire who is embroiled in fierce fight against the Canadian government.

Manuel (Matty) Moroun, who wants to build a new crossing next to his 80-year-old Ambassador Bridge over the Detroit River, has satisfied the CBSA that he has the land amassed to allow Canadian customs officers to carry out their duties, according to a 35-page report commissioned by the federal agency.

Mr. Moroun had “submitted an environmental impact statement in December, 2007, proposing a new six-lane replacement bridge immediately adjacent to the west of the Ambassador Bridge,” said the report by consulting firm Arup Canada Inc. But Ottawa required that Mr. Moroun first gain CBSA approval before Transport Canada would review any environmental assessment. Read more here.

Related: Windsor council sued by Ambassador Bridge (Windsor Star)

At Canadian Border, a Bridge to Prosperity

(Jeff Bennett — Wall Street Journal)

Billionaire Businessman Is Expected to Win Key Permit Allowing Him to Build a New Private Toll Span Between Detroit and Ontario

Billionaire businessman Manuel “Matty” Moroun is poised to move a step closer to tightening his control of traffic across the Detroit River, one of the continent’s busiest and most economically vital border crossings.

Mr. Moroun, whose Detroit International Bridge Co. owns the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, is expected this week to win approval from Canadian customs authorities for a key part of his plan to build a second span over the same stretch of water. By contrast, plans for a competing, publicly owned bridge have stalled amid concerns over the potential cost to taxpayers.

At stake are tens of millions of dollars of annual toll revenue and a critical link in the U.S. auto industry’s supply chain.

Customs authorities’ go-ahead for a new bridge plaza to be developed by Mr. Moroun—including toll booths and customs-inspection buildings—would all but clear the way for his company to seek a final environmental permit from the Canadian transportation department to build the new six-lane bridge, adjacent to the existing one. The permit is one of the few regulatory hurdles remaining before construction can begin. Read more here.

Blue Water Backs Public DRIC Bridge in Windsor

(Today’s Trucking)

The President of the Blue Water Bridge (BWB) linking Sarnia, Ont. and Port Huron, Mich. says he has no problem with a proposed new public-private bridge in nearby Windsor-Detroit.

In a letter to Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) officials at the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, BWB President and CEO Chuck Chrapko reiterated the crown corporation's support for the DRIC project, adding that the Sarnia-Port Huron border point would be largely unaffected by an additional crossing at the Detroit-Windsor Gateway. Read more here.

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.

Business, Political, Labor Leaders Support New Detroit River Bridge

(Bill Shea — Crain’s Detroit Business)

A group of state and local political, labor and business leaders gathered this morning [Friday] to express their solidarity for a new public Detroit River bridge, and to lobby for passage of legislation that they call the final hurdle to its creation.

Specifically, the group that included Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Canadian Ambassador Gary Doer advocated for passage of HB 4961, which would allow Michigan to enter into public-private partnership for its portion of the $5.3 billion Detroit River International Crossing project.

The bill is in the House Transportation Committee and is expected to be taken up this month, DRIC’s backers said in a statement today. If the bill is passed, work on the crossing could begin this year. […]

Backers say the bridge is needed to create 10,000 Michigan construction jobs over five years and 25,000 additional full-time, permanent Michigan jobs created or retained once the bridge is built. It’s also said to be needed to bolster trade capacity and to provide redundancy in case of accident or terrorist attack on the current border infrastructure.

Opponents, who include Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel Moroun and a bloc of state Legislators led by Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, say the new bridge is unneeded because border traffic has declined since 1999.

DRIC is a joint effort by the Michigan Department of Transportation, Transport Canada, Ontario’s Transportation Ministry and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, and it would link Detroit’s Delray neighborhood and Windsor’s Brighton Beach area with a new bridge to connect I-75 and Highway 401.

It’s expected to take 48 to 52 months to finish and the entire project has a $5.3 billion price tag, with the bridge itself at up to $1 billion. The remainder would be highway, ramp and plaza work, including the Windsor-Essex Parkway that is separate from DRIC and is purely a Canadian effort. Read more here.

DRIC Bridge Hurdle Cleared

(Video: Michigan DOT • Story: Chris Vander Doelen — Windsor Star)

The last major legal hurdle in the way of a new $5 billion publicly owned bridge over the Detroit River has been cleared, removing one of the last barriers to the start of one of the largest construction projects in Canadian history.

Transport Canada will announce today that it has won full approval for the wide-ranging Environmental Assessment it has prepared for the Detroit River International Bridge project.

Years in the making, the approval is to be announced this morning, a reliable federal source confirmed to me Wednesday afternoon. Read more here.