Ambassador Bridge keeps Windsor in limbo
By Paul Breschuk
Feature Writer
November 25, 2009
 A pervasive fixture of the skyline, the Ambassador Bridge has long been a major identifying marker of Sandwich Town. For 80 years this landmark has been active in its service of international transportation, giving passage to roughly 15,000 vehicles per day.
While it has historically enjoyed an iconic status, with its craftsmanship being a source of blue collar pride, its bright and shiny image has been fading in recent times. Like its paint job, the bridge seems darker, almost sinister in the way it looms over the community. Who could have imaged that it would be cause for abandoned homes, falling property values, political haranguing, and environmental worries?
With its vehicular contents causing both health and environmental concerns, it appears now as a site of contention, a surprisingly unwelcome guest of Sandwich Town.
Since the 9/11 attacks, changes bred from security concerns have made the bridge less accessible to the public. No longer is it possible to walk or bicycle across the bridge by way of its now-inaccessible sidewalk. The areas beneath and around the bridge, especially at the riverfront, have now been cordoned off. Ramped-up security measures also make its photography a sensitive matter of national security, with tourists and photographers being treated by police as potential terrorists. Slowly, the bridge has become more and more isolated, a stranger amidst the very people it was built and loved by.
The heightened national security of both countries have also caused longer delays in the processing of vehicles, lining up idling trucks along Huron Church Rd. Deteriorating road conditions, along with air quality concerns, have done much to sour the image of the Ambassador Bridge as being a welcomed resident of the community.
A 2007 safety study has also made some troubling findings despite giving the bridge a satisfactory rating. In the report were descriptions of hairline cracks and exposed wires. The bridge railings were also said to be in poor condition as severe deterioration has “reduced [their] capacity to resist vehicular impact,” giving credence to the age-old fear of cars plummeting to their polluted watery graves.
Proposal #1: the second span
In regards to border crossing improvements, the blatant necesity for wholesale change has birthed two contesting solutions. The proposal offered by the Ambasador Bridge Company (ABC), the bridge’s current owner, argues for a second bridge to be built parallel to the existing one. As spokesman Phil Frame explains, this new bridge “would offer six lanes, including two devoted specifically to NEXUS/FAST Lane commuters that would expedite wait times at the border.”
According to Frame, the second span would also be relatively easy to build. “Everything we need is already there. It would use existing plazas and infrastructure requiring no additional land purchases.”
Building anywhere else would entail a significantly more extensive and expensive operation. Frame insists that this would be a waste of tax payers’ money, deeming such a large project unnecessary.
“When discussions about a second bridge began, traffic across the Ambassador Bridge was in the 13 million crossings per year range. Since then we have had the September 11 attacks followed by a major recession that has caused yearly crossings to drop by almost 50 per cent,” said Frame, implying that his company’s new bridge would be more than adequate.
The proposed project would come with the price tag of $250 million, all of which would be covered by the private company. This would free up tax payers’ money for more pressing concerns. Frame sees this as a major selling point as the economy continues to worsen while rising budget deficits have lead to cutbacks in many government sectors. “In Michigan, we are cutting back school spending by $200 per child and library expenses by 40 per cent,” said Frame. “There are now fewer services available to the people that need them the most, affecting the capabilities of even the police and fire departments.”
With similar cutbacks affecting Ontario’s social services, the ABC’s offer is very tempting. This is the obvious benefit in having a private company at the helm of the next border crossing project.
Proposal #2: the downriver bridge
Located at the recently vacated Brighton Beach neighborhood is the proposed foot of the downriver bridge. It is set to span across to Zug Island on the American side, linking the 401 with the I-75 highways.
This location would divert traffic away from the city core, a characteristic that helped win the approval of the Detroit River International Crossing Study (DRIC).
Environmental assessments by the U.S. and Ontario have already awarded the project with clearances while it still awaits Canada’s federal assessment.
In the meantime, $34 million have already been spent in land purchases. Mark Butler, spokesperson for Transport Canada, explains that this land is to make way for the largest infrastructure inspection plaza of any international crossing, using over 100 acres on the Canadian side.
“We want to make sure we have the best technology to examine trucks and vehicles. We also want to provide a significant buffer area between inspection facilities and the community using natural methods like tree planting and the creation of berms,” said Butler.
While the bridge is to be publicly owned, Butler contends that tax payers will not be burdened. “We will go to the marketplace and have the highest bidder build a bridge and expansion plaza. In return for their investment, they will get a percentage of money directly from the tolls.”
Reactions
So far, the downriver proposal has been very well received, gaining the support of almost all parties involved. It is backed by both the governments of Canada and the U.S., the province of Ontario, and the state of Michigan.
It has also found an ally in Brian Masse, current Member of Parliament for Windsor West, sees public ownership as a victory for both Sandwich Town and Canada, as a whole.
“When I, along with numerous other residents, demanded public ownership, public control, rules and regulations to end the chaos, and a crossing location that was acceptable to the city, there were those who felt we could not achieve these results as corporate profits often trump public interest,” explained Masse.
“With the passage of the International Bridge and Tunnel Act and the announcement that the federal government would take full responsibility for the bridge and the plaza, paying for 50 per cent of the access route, Ottawa allocated an initial $400 million with more to follow, saying that a public entity would be created for governance.”
As for the ABC’s proposal, Masse describes why it was rejected by the DRIC study, city council, and community, citing the negative impact on Sandwich Town, lack of redundancy in crossing capacity, local health, transportation and access route deficiencies, as well as national security concerns.
Another issue that has become a thorn in the side of Sandwich Town residents is the clearing of homes on Indian Rd. As the ABC has, without proper permissions, begun work on their second span, they have purchased and subsequently boarded up all of the homes on the Canadian side adjacent to the current bridge.
And while plans for the ABC’s second span are in limbo, so is the fate of these historic homes. For now they quietly waste away, providing haven for squatters, drug dealers, and rats. This disruption in the community has also caused local property values to plummet.
“Unfortunately, the ABC has not maintained the properties it owns. This circumstance follows the consistent pattern of conduct displaying a lack of respect for the City of Windsor and its residents by the ABC,” said Masse.
Against all odds, it seems, the ABC continues to fight through bureaucratic red tape, media wars, and the daunting quest to obtain a myriad of permits and approvals.
The DRIC-supported study, while seeming the more likely candidate for the final go-ahead, still awaits a federal environmental assessment. By now, however, Windsorites are accustomed to such long waits, whether it is for a new arena or to simply move through customs.
For more information on the two proposed border crossings, visit the following links:
www.ambassadorbridge.com
www.partnershipborderstudy.com/
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