Tom Warne Report, 20 March 2014
LANSING – Southwest Detroit will begin seeing demolition and site clearing for a new bridge to Canada this summer, the head of Michigan’s transportation department said this week.
Canadian transportation officials expect to receive approval from Parliament next month to begin spending nearly $600 million budgeted by the country for the first phase of the New International Trade Crossing, said Kirk Steudle, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation. MDOT is working with Transport Canada on a plan to facilitate land acquisitions in Detroit’s Delray community for the new bridge landing, customs plaza and I-75 interchange, Steudle said.
“This isn’t a dream anymore – it is going to happen,” Steudle told county road officials Wednesday at their annual convention in Lansing.
Canada has agreed to cover Michigan’s $550 million portion of the $2.1 billion project, although the U.S. government is anticipated to pay for a new $250 million customs plaza. That funding has recently come into question since President Barack Obama did not include that funding Tuesday in his 2015 budget plan.
Roy Norton, Canada’s departing Detroit consul general, has said concerns over U.S. funding commitments could push the bridge’s completion date beyond the original 2020 goal.
“Sometime in April or so, we ought to have money in Transport Canada’s hands that can start with the property acquisition, and I think that’s what you’ll see this summer … demolition and site cleaning going on,” Steudle told members of the County Road Association of Michigan.
Later this year, Michigan and Ontario officials plan to officially form a six-member international authority of three Canadians and three Michigan representatives to oversee the new bridge’s construction and operation processes, Steudle said.
Kirk has his hands full to carry this project to the finish line. You know it is desperately needed when one of the partners on the project is willing to front the money to get it done. Fortunately, this is not the first rodeo for my friend Kirk and his colleagues in Michigan. If he says “it’s not a dream anymore,” I’m inclined to believe him. JN