While the debate rages around the relevance of building a tunnel between Quebec and Lévis, the construction of a third link between Windsor and Detroit comes at a pivotal moment, after years of negotiations. According to experts and politicians on both sides of the border, the blocking of the Ambassador Bridge demonstrated the importance of the future Gordie Howe International Bridge.
The disruption to traffic on the Ambassador Bridge in early February shook the confidence the United States had in Canada, according to Roy Norton, Canada’s former consul in Detroit. Auto factories have had to suspend their operations, and American elected officials have advocated the repatriation of American factories to the United States given the risk associated with cross-border transport.
Roy Norton thinks that the presence of a third link, in addition to the existing tunnel – which cannot accept heavy goods vehicles – could restore the country’s reputation as a reliable economic partner, by offering a secondary option to trucks. (A small ferry also occasionally carries trucks containing hazardous materials, but is not used by cars.)
One of the main reasons is technical, says the former consul: it would have been much more difficult to block the Gordie Howe Bridge since traffic will pour into the freeway system and not in downtown Windsor, as is the case with the Ambassador Bridge.
In a February 15 address, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer also stressed the importance of the third link in light of events. “Having two bridges is better than one, not because of the volume of traffic between the two municipalities, but rather for redundancy: if one bridge does not work, the other can take over”, confirms Bill Anderson, director of the Cross-Border Institute at the University of Windsor.
Truck traffic on the Ambassador Bridge actually fell by around 28% between 2006 and 2019, according to an analysis by Professor John Taylor of Wayne State University in Detroit. “The argument that we needed a bridge because of the volume of traffic was completely wrong,” concludes the professor. “From a purely transportation point of view, this bridge is not necessary,” notes Ron Rienas, president of the Bridge and Tunnel Operators Association.
But the decrease in traffic volume does not change the relevance of the new link, argues Bill Anderson. The latter says that traffic could even increase thanks to the new bridge; the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) also expects “increased pressure” on the border in the coming years. “My response to people who say we don’t need a second bridge because traffic has gone down is that the infrastructure is not adequate: the Ambassador Bridge is over 90 years old and doesn’t connect not highway systems,” he says.
long saga
Given the deterioration of the Ambassador Bridge (pieces of the bridge crumbled in the past, says Roy Norton), Canada has long pushed for the signing of an agreement with Michigan. According to the magazine Maclean’sin 2010, Roy Norton had the mandate directly from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lawrence Cannon, to ensure that the bridge was built.
In 2012, an agreement was signed between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, who overruled opposition from the state legislature. But it was Ottawa that agreed to pay the 5.7 billion necessary for the construction. The sum will be paid back with tolls on the bridge over the next 60 to 70 years, says Roy Norton, after which the State of Michigan can begin to receive royalties.
This does not mean, however, that the federal government has forgotten the Ambassador Bridge, which is celebrating its 93rd birthday this year. To the surprise of some, in September 2017, Transport Canada allowed bridge owner Manuel Maroun, who died in 2020, to build a new deck. But construction of the replacement bridge must begin no later than five years from the time construction was approved, that is, in six months, the ministry says, or owners will have to reapply for a permit. approval.
“If the Ambassador Bridge disappears, that weakens one of the main arguments for the international Gordie-Howe bridge, that is to say the principle of redundancy”, analyzes Bill Anderson.
Logistic challenge
The capacity of a border bridge differs from that of a conventional bridge since it is calculated according to the customs workforce, explains the director of the Cross-Border Institute. The customs post at the Gordie-Howe International Bridge will have the advantage of being larger than that at the Ambassador Bridge. But Professor John Taylor, of Wayne State University, warns that border agencies in both countries must be prepared to have sufficient numbers of staff.
This is not won in advance, he thinks. 100 kilometers north of Windsor, at the Blue Water Bridge, which connects Port Huron to Sarnia, the regional congresswoman fought for years to get the US government to fund the construction of a new customs post, which would allow accelerating the passage of cars. The project could see the light of day in 2025, after more than ten years of waiting.
The Customs and Immigration Union estimates that about 250 employees will be needed to work at the new bridge’s customs post, a number similar to that of the Ambassador Bridge. The CBSA says it cannot disclose the number of officers needed for security reasons. “The CBSA is taking appropriate steps to ensure that there are sufficient resources available to properly manage the border,” wrote a spokesperson.
Across the country, the CBSA is already short of 1,000 officers, the union points out. Officers at Windsor’s two customs posts would work overtime. Ron Rienas of the Peace Bridge predicts that other border crossings could lose officers to the new bridge. “The biggest impediment to trade has always been customs capacity, not apron capacity,” suggests John Taylor.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.