TORONTO — A second bridge across the Detroit River is not in Matty Moroun’s plans, the trucking mogul and owner of the Ambassador Bridge insists.

While at a chamber of commerce luncheon for Ontario Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield, Moroun told the Windsor The Star any new span would be a “mistake.”

The border region’s sputtering economy, a slump in the autoparts sector, and increasing rail and intermodalism make his privately-owned Ambassador bridge the only viable crossing for the future, he told the newspaper.

A binational border selection committee has announced that a new bridge should be built a few kilometers southwest of the Ambassador. While Moroun is on record as opposing any new bridge, he reportedly owns lucrative real estate in the areas the bridge may be built.

Meanwhile, the bridge company has filed applications with government officials to build a twin span and expand its Ambassador plaza in Detroit. In its “enhancement project,” application recently obtained by TodaysTrucking.com, engineers on behalf of the bridge write that the new, six-lane twin span could eventually replace the Ambassador.

In both Windsor and Detroit, the bridge has ripped up numerous properties along the waterfront and major excavation work has begun.

Questioned by The Star about his Transport Canada application to twin the bridge, Moroun said it was being done for maintenance reasons and not capacity problems.

Last week, TodaysTrucking.com reported that the Michigan State Court of Appeals ruled the Ambassador Bridge is not a federal instrument and the company should abide by City of Detroit zoning ordinances (see link below).

The City’s Department of Buildings and Safety Engineering originally denied the bridge permission to construct new passenger and truck tollbooths and to expand the plaza. A circuit court sided with the bridge company, agreeing that the plaza is “maintained under contract with the federal government for the essential governmental purposes of conducting customs, naturalization and border control functions.”

But the appeals court found that the circuit court erred in its finding and therefore backed the city’s authority to enforce zoning permits on the bridge plaza.

— with files from the Windsor Star