Detroit Windsor Tunnel

In Detroit-Windsor bridge debate, Snyder and Moroun both claim to be on side ...

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Ambassador Bridge heir Matthew Moroun rarely agree when it comes to the proposed New International Trade Crossing , but both men say the debate is about free enterprise.

Snyder, speaking earlier this month at the Mackinac Policy Conference, reiterated that the publicly-owned Detroit River crossing would be financed, built and operated by the private sector.

"If you don’t believe in supporting this legislation, you're taking a position in some ways to say you have an issue with free enterprise and free competition," he said, via annarbor.com . "That's what this is all about is creating an environment where free competition and the free market can work."

That competition, of course, would mean a loss of traffic and potential revenue for the private owners of the Ambassador Bridge, who are fighting plans for the new Detroit-Windsor span via television ads, lobbying and political donations.

Matthew Moroun, vice chairman of the Detroit International Bridge Co., testified yesterday before a Senate committee reviewing recently-introduced bridge legislation . 

His message: "Let free enterprise work."

"It's worked for 83 years," Moroun said via The Windsor Star , "and there's no reason to get the government involved."

Free enterprise is typically defined as an economic system where private business operate in competition without unnecessary state control. 

Critics contend the Ambassador Bridge maintains a virtual monopoly on the crossing and faces little competition, a charge Moroun denied, pointing to both the Detroit-Windsor tunnel and the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron.

While traffic projections vary, bi-partisan political and business leaders from across the state say a new crossing is needed. True, the Morouns would like to twin the Ambassador, but Canadian officials have made it quite clear they are not interested in pumping additional traffic in to already congested neighborhoods.

The NITC, on the other hand, would be constructed several miles south of the Ambassador and connect to the 401 highway via the new Winsor-Essex Parkway.

The Morouns aren't interested in building in Delray or any other location down the river, so the NITC is the only viable option on the table. While it would be publicly owned, it will be privately operated, and Snyder has even gone so far as to suggest the Morouns bid on the contract .

Another misguided trip to bad-economics ville. If I have this right, Traffic across the Ambassador bridge is already way down. Introduce competition and cut the traffic that much more on each? There isn't enough traffic to support two bridges so one goes under financially. Then what? Close one and look at the other? And still have a privately run monopoly? CRAZY!

Detroit/Windsor Tunnel

The Detroit–Windsor Tunnel is a partially submerged highway tunnel connecting Detroit, Michigan in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario in Canada. It was completed in 1930.

It is the second busiest crossing between the United States and Canada after the nearby Ambassador Bridge. About 13,000 vehicles use the tunnel each day.[1] The structure is jointly owned by the two cities. A 2004 Border Transportation Partnership study showed that 150,000 jobs in the region and $13 billion (U.S.) in annual production depend on the Windsor-Detroit international border crossing.[2]

When constructed, it was only the third underwater vehicular tunnel constructed in the United States (after the Holland Tunnel between Jersey City, New Jersey, and downtown Manhattan, New York City, New York and the Posey Tube between Oakland and Alameda, California).

Its creation was prompted by the opening of cross-border rail freight tunnels including the St. Clair Tunnel between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario and the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel between Detroit and Windsor.

The Detroit–Windsor Tunnel is 120 feet (37 m) short of a mile at 5,160 feet (1,573 m). At its lowest point, the two-lane roadway is 75 feet (23 m) below the river surface.

The cities of Detroit and Windsor hold the distinction of jointly creating both the second and third underwater tunnels between two nations in the world. The Detroit–Windsor Tunnel is the world’s third underwater tunnel between two nations, and the first international underwater vehicle tunnel. The Michigan Central Railway Tunnel, completed in 1910 also across the Detroit River, was the second tunnel between two nations. The St. Clair Tunnel, completed in 1891 between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario was the first.

The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, the construction story of the world's only international automobile roadway

Congressional Record, V. 151, Pt. 17, October 7 to 26, 2005

Landmarks in American civil engineering

The Ambassador Bridge, a monument to progress

Detroit's Street Railways