FORT ERIE, Ont. (Dec. 13, 2004) — The Canadian government says a law on the books since 1923 thwarts any plans of a private-owned secondary international border crossing at Fort Erie, Ont.-Buffalo, N.Y.

Transport Canada minister Jean-Claude Lapierre confirmed this week the validity of the Peace Bridge Authority’s exclusive right to operate any vehicle bridge within 10 km of the existing crossing, the publication Niagara This Week reported.

Welland MP John Maloney, who delivered the minister’s message, said the river crossing should not be in the hands of private enterprise. “It’s too important for our trading relations with the United States to be held for ransom, possibly, potentially, by a private consortium,” he told the newspaper.

As today’s Trucking has reported over the last year, officials from the privately-owned Windsor-Detroit Ambassador Bridge have filed papers for permission to build a new $250 million bridge for commercial trucks less than two miles away from the Peace Bridge. The Ambassador Niagara Signature Bridge Group says its bridge would handle mainly commercial trucks, leaving auto traffic to the existing, publicly-managed Peace Bridge.

But According to Transport Canada, the 1923 act of Parliament grants exclusive right to operate the bridge by the government- controlled Peace Bridge authority.

The ANSBG, however, disagrees that a prohibition still exists, according to its regional director James B. Kane. He says his group has researched the legislation, and is convinced that it is not meant to prevent a new bridge/plaza complex in the region.

At one time, the Peace Bridge Authority also looked into the possibility of an alternate bridge down river. However, after completing a feasibility study, officials dropped the idea. “The issues and barriers we identified are the same ones that the Ambassador Bridge people would have to overcome,” Bruce Campbell, Peace Bridge Expansion Project manager, told Today’s Trucking at the time. “That’s not to say they can’t be successful in doing that, we just don’t think it’s likely.”

Instead, the Peace Bridge Authority wants to build a new span in the existing Peace Bridge corridor.

— with files from Niagara This Week