Can The Bi-national Numbers Be Trusted?

It was only a few years ago when the Bi-National Engineers predicted a huge traffic volume increase for this area necessitating the construction of a new crossing. But the numbers have changed

Acording to today's Windsor Star "While the number of trucks crossing the Ambassador Bridge has remained stagnant the past four years, truck traffic is up 22 per cent at Sarnia's Blue Water Bridge and the volume of freight passing through the Detroit River rail tunnel has more than doubled, according to a government report."

Are these numbers any good? Who knows?

I believe that the Engineers have made their assessment as accurate as they could. But if the numbers changed so drastically in only a few years how do we know that the numbers will be accurate 3 years from now? Can anyone predict with certainty what will happen next year, never mind 5, 10, 20 or even 30 years down the road?

How can a new crossing costing hundreds of millions be justified today with these numbers? Is there a desire to bankrupt the Bridge and Detroit/Windsor Tunnel since volumes are down and are shifting?

I think this idea makes more sense

• to adopt the Bridge's Co.'s plan that would build 200 booths that could clear around 50 milion vehicles per year,
• to figure out where the new crossing should be,
• to set the land aside and protect the land from being used for a purpose other than a crossing,
• to design the plans for the construction,
• then build the crossing when it is actually needed