In The News
Bridge project may be topic in Obama's Canada trip
DETROIT — A planned second international bridge
linking Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, may be on the agenda when
President Barack Obama visits Canada on his first foreign trip as U.S.
president.
The economy and trade will be discussed, said Andrew MacDougall, press secretary for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
But MacDougall would not comment on whether Harper would
broach the Detroit River International Crossing, or DRIC, to Obama when
they sit down together Thursday in Ottawa.
That bridge would handle an expected increase in traffic
between Windsor and Detroit and could compete against another planned
span.
The 80-year-old Ambassador Bridge currently handles that
traffic and is the busiest trade route between the U.S. and Canada. Its
owners are planning to replace it with a new bridge.
Transport Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, U.S.
Federal Highway Administration and Michigan Department of
Transportation are involved in the DRIC project.
Detroit International Bridge Co. president Dan Stamper fears
Harper will push Obama to support the joint Canadian and Michigan
effort, which would compete with his project.
"Canadians are driving the bus," Stamper said. "They don't
want a U.S. citizen owning the border crossing. Trade is so important
to them, they want to control everything that happens at the border."
Billionaire Manuel (Matty) Moroun owns the Ambassador Bridge
and plans to build a replacement span about 100 feet to the southwest.
Once the new bridge is completed, the Ambassador Bridge then would be
open for emergencies or to relieve congestion on the new span.
With 16 million cars, trucks and buses going back and forth
each year, the Detroit-Windsor border handles more traffic than any
other crossing between the U.S. and Canada.
An estimated $347 billion — about 23 percent — of the total
surface trade between the two countries used the Ambassador Bridge and
Detroit-Windsor Tunnel in 2001, according a DRIC study that provided
the most recent figures available.
The study concluded that at least four more lanes for traffic
at the Detroit/Windsor crossing will be needed by 2030.Stamper says 9.4
million vehicles, including 3.5 million trucks, crossed the Ambassador
Bridge in 2006. Traffic on the bridge has been dropping each year since
1999.
But that is expected to change once the economies of both countries pick up, MDOT spokesman Bill Shreck said.
"We have six lanes of traffic at Detroit/Windsor and two are
tunnels which can't handle truck traffic," Shreck said. "We're
competing with Buffalo and Niagara Falls which have 14 lanes, and they
are talking about expanding.
"We need to be competitive against other border crossings. Right now, we need a modern, fully functioning Ambassador Bridge. We need a DRIC bridge ... all that to be in place when the economy recovers."
Construction of the estimated $600 million DRIC bridge is expected to start in 2010 and open four years later, Shreck said.
The work will be funded by bonds and eventually paid off from toll fees, he said.
Construction on the replacement Ambassador Bridge could start
this year and take about 30 months to complete, Stamper said. The cost
of that bridge could approach $500 million.