Tom Warne Report, 28 October 2011
A proposed public-private partnership to build a new toll bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Canada was voted down by a Michigan Senate panel with a 3-2 vote. Two Democrats on the Senate Economic Development Committee chose not to vote after a failed effort moments before to amend the measure to require the toll operator to protect residents in neighborhoods surrounding the proposed bridge.
The bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, would allow the state to sign an agreement with Canada and a private organization to build and operate the span downriver from the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest commercial U.S.-Canadian border crossing. The $4 billion bridge project was proposed to relieve congestion from the existing structure, and Richardville said after the vote that he did not intend to renew the effort any time soon.
Gov. Rick Snyder made the bridge a priority since taking office, calling it “critically important” to expanding trade. Canada had offered $550 million to cover Michigan’s portion of the cost, and a private group would be responsible for financing, constructing and operating the span.
Critics of the plan said it was not necessary to build another structure and raised doubts about the decline of truck traffic at such crossings.