DETROIT — Proponents waiting to hear whether the Michigan Senate will continue to back the DRIC bridge project might not get an answer until next year.

Michigan’s Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop told media in Detroit that legislation to keep the binational border-crossing project alive will probably be reviewed in November, but a Senate vote might not happen until 2011.

If the legislation isn’t rubberstamped by the end of the year, a new bill would need to be introduced and debated.

Michigan’s House of Representatives narrowly approved DRIC earlier this year.

However, a Senate vote has since been delayed by political interference.

The Canadian government and the Michigan Dept. of Transport strongly support building a new bridge across the Detroit River, but the project is being undermined by Matty Moroun, the owner of the private Ambassador Bridge crossing, and his political allies.