Is There A Santa Claus

You would think that the owner of the Bridge Co. must be very upset at this most joyous time of year. First, it looks like his deal with Detroit for the Tunnel has fallen apart, due partially from the efforts of our Mayor Francis and the threat of action by the Canadian Government. Next the Bi-national has dumped the Twinned Bridge as a contender for the new Windsor/Detroit crossing. Instead, I would think that there is a lot of merriment in their head office!

Do you remember the answer to the Letter to the Editor by Virginia in the New York Sun back in 1897. One section was very interesting to me and seemed appropriate now:

• "Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds."

So let's see what the little minds think after this.

First with respect to the Tunnel.

My family and I were invited by some friends to to the 5 PM show at the Fox Theater on Sunday see the Rockettes and have a pre-show meal. Since I'd never been there before and had no idea about parking (and since we wanted to do a bit of shopping over in Detroit to amortize the cost of the toll over several functions), we left early, around 1:30 PM, and headed to downtown to go across via the Tunnel.

On Goyeau, just before Wyandotte, and on Wyandotte----a backup. Whether the Tunnel was closed for awhile so cars could clear it (I knew about that because of past delays there) or whether there were problems, I did not know and did not wait to find out. With some fancy driving, I made a few turns to get away from the Tunnel and headed towards the Bridge. I saw that Goyeau southbound to the Tunnel was blocked by a police car and another was just arriving to direct traffic.

Arriving at the Bridge, a few minutes later, everything was clear and I zoomed over and through US Customs. I should have listened to my wife and gone there first at that time of the day.

Imagine if I was a tourist who wanted to go home after spending the weekend in Windsor. Would I go to the Tunnel next time? Hardly. Can you imagine how easy the choice would be if I knew that the Bridge had 200 US customs booths, 100 on each side, and the Tunnel about a small fraction of that number. [9 Customs Inspection Booths and 3 dedicated truck inspection lanes on the Windsor plaza and "multiple" using the Tunnel's word on the Detroit plaza."]

Instead of co-operating with the Bridge Co. to boost tourism to the City and working together on a large joint plaza, the Tunnel can now compete. When the Tunnel goes bankrupt because of the lack of business, then the Mayor and Ottawa can share the blame. And then the Bridge Co. can buy the Tunnel for pennies on the dollar.

Secondly, not being a final contender

This may be the nicest present of all.

I attended a DRIC public meeting in Delray, Michigan last week. DRTP was eliminated as a Bi-National contender (although DRTP can continue with its own environmental studies). That was a stocking stuffer for the Bridge Co.

In going through the mass of data that the Americans provided to anyone who attended, listening to the Presentation made, and after reading the Canadian DRIC report, it is clear that the Twinned Bridge proposal has many things going for it:

• "The crossing X12 alternative (twin Ambassador Bridge) was identified as one of the top overall performers on the U.S. side in terms of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness...the U.S. Project Team recommended [the Twinned Bridge alternative] be carried forward for consideration as practical alternatives while the Canadian Project Team did not... "

Why didn't the Canadian team like it then:

• "In consideration of the high community impacts to the residential area impacted by the expansion of the Canadian bridge plaza and the expansion of Huron church Road to a freeway facility on the Canadian side"

However,

• "The expanded U.S. plaza of the Ambassador Bridge, with the improved connections to the interstate freeway system will be carried forward within the Area for Continued Analysis as a possible U.S. plaza site for a new crossing connecting to a new inspection plaza and connecting roadway on the Canadian side located downriver of the Ambassador Bridge."
  
  

The US side of the Ambassador Bridge was OK and could move forward but not the Canadian side. And why couldn't the Canadian side move forward...Without going into it in great detail now, the Canadian team rejected the Twinned Bridge based on something the Bridge Co. never proposed!

So I bet you can imagine the consternation at the Bridge Co.'s offices UNTIL THEY SAW THE US REPORT AND THE GIFT GIVEN TO THEM:

• "However, the Canadian evaluation notes a second span of the Ambassador Bridge would be an expansion of the existing crossing, not a new crossing of the river with new connections to the freeway systems in Ontario and Michigan."

The Bridge Co. just saw a multi-hundred million dollar bonanza that would allow a new road to be built for their 200 booth proposal. And remember, the route selected by the Bi-national was a road favourable to the Bridge Co. on the Canadian side.

Since the Bridge Co.'s Twinned Bridge or 200 booth proposal is considered an expansion of the existing crossing, the Bi-national has no control over them. The Bridge Co. can now act on their own. Accordingly, the Bridge Co.'s route can receive the $300 million funding to build their WALTS/Ring/Schwartz/Windsor road including the "missing link" to the Bridge under the Border Infrastructure Fund legislation. After all, it is not a NEW proposal but expansion of an existing corridor to the border.

Let everyone else fight over the new crossing. The Bridge Co. in the new year should demand from the Senior Levels in Canada and receive assurances that the road to the bridge will be built in accordance with the Bi-national recommendation forthwith using the available BIF funds. The new route can always link to the new crossing since we now have a better idea where it may go. If someone is foolish enough to want to build a new bridge, then the Bridge Co. can buy it out for pennies on the dollar when it goes broke too like the Tunnel!

What a great gift the Canadian DRIC team gave them. It is a face-saver for the Canadian Governments too at all levels, including Municipal. Not only will the Bridge Co. get their road, and the BIF money, they get it now while DRIC stalls off their competition until 2013 at the earliest.

Yes, Virginia....for the Bridge Co., there is a DRIC Santa Claus!