Essay: Bridge Wars - 1.18.10

Billions of dollars worth of trade travels across the Ambassador Bridge each year… Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry takes a look at the future of the bridge.

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Many of us have been paying more attention to homeland security concerns ever since the failed attempt to blow up an airplane over Detroit on Christmas Day.

But it’s become increasingly clear that our biggest potential terrorist target is nowhere near any of our airports, but involves two nations and straddles the Detroit River. I am talking about the eighty-year-old Ambassador Bridge. Billions in trade move across it every year, including heavy machine and auto parts.

There is really no backup system. If something were to happen to the Ambassador, the cost to our already battered economy would be devastating. The Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron is too far away to be an economically viable alternative. Besides, it is often backed up now with its normal flow of people and commerce.

Most of the vital material that comes over the Ambassador can’t be taken through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. What’s more, there is virtually no security protecting the bridge; boats and barges move under it constantly, and gasoline tankers park under its approaches.

Not surprisingly, major efforts are now underway to construct a second bridge. A bi-national group calling itself the Detroit River International Crossing Project, DRIC for short, has a site picked out about a mile south of the Ambassador. The bridge would be funded by private investors, but owned and inspected by both nations.

That project has the blessing of most governments and many top business officials in both countries. But Manuel Moroun, the owner of the Ambassador Bridge, has been fighting it savagely.

Moroun, who everyone calls Matty, is a billionaire trucking magnate who has made a lot of money from the Ambassador, and wants to keep his monopoly thriving. He wants to twin his bridge, building a second span right next to the first.

Almost nobody thinks that‘s a good idea. The government of Canada has refused to give him the necessary permits, but he keeps on preparing to build anyway. And he is doing everything he can to try to torpedo the effort to build a second bridge downriver.

Last week, for example, it was learned that he had suddenly bought forty-two acres of land which include some of the territory needed to build the DRIC bridge. Now, government could, of course, later force him to sell that land under eminent domain.

But it adds one more complication to an already complex process. Moroun’s next move was both fascinating and insidious. Michigan is so broke right now that the state risks losing up to $1.6 billion dollars in federal highway funds, because the legislature can’t come up with the legally required twenty percent in matching funds.

So the Ambassador Bridge company dangled this deal. It has $400 million in toll credits earned for improving the bridge.

Moroun offered to give those to the state so it could get the rest of the badly needed road repair funds. There was, of course, one big string, namely, that Michigan could not use any of the money to help any entity that might compete with the Ambassador Bridge.

There’s also another problem, which is that it isn’t at all clear that those credits could be used instead of cash.

These machinations are fascinating, but get us nowhere nearer the goal of having a safe and secure way to ensure the flow of vital international trade. Even with everything else we’re facing, it’s time to get moving, and get the job done.

Comments

[Anonymous]

Wow, this sounds like such a cutthroat power play.

Sort of like carving all unions out of a Cadillac health insurance tax, just to get their political support on a bill in conference.

As for the bridge, I agree that it is a critical resource for the region and the nation, and that it must be protected from all possible terrorist threats. I might have more faith in our federal government's ability to protect a new bridge if, for instance, the TSA could ensure safety in the airline industry. But it hasn't been a good month for airline security. And I'd have a bit more faith in the Obama Administration's handling of the TSA if they advocated a hard-nosed no-nonsense paramilitary unit to provide thsoe services. Instead of insisting on a collective bargaining agreement for TSA workers.

[geology degree]

I agree that it is a critical resource for the region and the nation, and that it must be protected from all possible terrorist threats.

[JoeBlog]

Oh Jack, you keep spewing this stuff. As if anyone could believe it once they know the facts.

You know as well as I what terrorists do these days: multi-target. Is a bridge a mile away safer? Hardly.

You also neglected to mention Moroun's "back-up" bridge concept that he disclosed at the MDOT hearings that eliminated bridges across the country as targets. Why?

Why not advocate for reverse customs, Jack, that inspects vehicles BEFORE they cross over. Moroun has advocated for that for years as you know.

You also should know that the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel is the area crossing that has been identified as a "unique security risk" but no one knows how safe it is since Congressman Dingell forgot to ask for its inspection reports to make them public.

As for the Blue Water Bridge and being a viable alternative, they say that their biggest competiton is the Ambassador Bridge!

You know better re eminent domain in Michigan, Jack. You read the papers. And would you fund a competitor to put you out of business? Get real.

Here is the real absurdity of DRIC. They want to put the best border operator between Canada and the US out of business and then give the crossing over to another PRIVATE operator under a long-term lease.

Thus, in effect, Government loses control during the lease-term which will be long-term. Then when the lease is over, Government can pay to fix up the bridge. It happened before in the region as again you must know.

Moreover, expect the new bridge to require a subsidy through "availability payments" that are now being mentioned. Traffic is down so much--1999 levels--- they probably cannot even pay the financing costs.

And who will pay that: Michigan taxpayers who do not provide MDOT with enough funds now to fix existing roads and bridges.

Come on Jack, use your intelligence to get the parties talking to do a deal instead of spreading your silliness any further.

At the least, get the facts right.