January 18, 2010

Infrastructure

Windsor-Detroit border crossing project ready to proceed

Environmental assessment approval sets stage for land acquisition, talks with U.S.

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

With environmental assessment approvals in hand, the Canadian government is poised to proceed with the next steps in development of a new border crossing between Windsor and Detroit.

These include continued land acquisition on the Canadian side and discussions with the government’s U.S. partners on procurement of the six-lane international bridge.

“We are continuing our discussions with Michigan on governance issues and financing issues,” said Mark Butler, a Windsor-based spokesman for Transport Canada.

The project has received environmental assessment approvals on both sides of the border.

The bridge, estimated to cost between $800 million to $1 billion, is part of a $5 billion project that includes inspection plazas on both sides of the river and feeder highways linking Highway 401 in Windsor to 1-75 in Detroit.

In Ontario, Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministry of Transportation have released a request for proposals for companies to design, build, finance and maintain the 11-kilometre Windsor-Essex Parkway.

The three shortlisted teams have been given six months to prepare and submit their proposals.

Butler said the Canadian government would prefer that the new cable-stayed or suspension bridge be undertaken on the basis of a public-private partnership. But he said this approach is not yet set in stone.

“One of the reasons is that the U.S. side of the bridge would be owned by the state of Michigan. But the state does not have P3 legislation in effect. Until that legislation is passed, Michigan would not be able to enter into a P3 agreement.”

Once that legislation is enacted, a decision would have to be made on whether the public-private partnership would include the inspection plazas or just the bridge.

“Essentially, once a decision has been made and Michigan has the legislative authority to go ahead with a P3, we could then be able to go out to the marketplace and issue requests for qualifications,” Butler said.

While the Canadian government is anxious to break ground “as soon as possible,” a construction start date has not been set.

“I can’t crystal-ball this,” Butler said. “What we do know is that it is probably going to take 48 to 52 months to build the bridge, whether it is cable-stayed or suspension.”

The bridge, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Canada, is expected to attract the attention of both Canadian and U.S. bidders.

“Ultimately, the successful consortium would have to be someone with experience building either cable-stayed or suspension bridges, as the case may be,” Butler said.

In the interim, he said, some utility relocation could be done on the Canadian side to accommodate the new inspection plaza. The majority of the necessary land has been acquired.

Jim Lyons, executive director of the Windsor Construction Association, said his organization would like to see some provision made for firms from the region and even the province to be involved in the project, no matter what procurement model is adopted.

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