LANSING, Mich. — Canada and U.S. border officials say that a new border crossing between Windsor, Ont. and Detroit could be open by 2013.

The news, as reported by Associated Press, came during a hearing in which legislators questioned transportation officials about the joint U.S.-Canadian project for a new crossing.

Ambassador officials say another bridge isn’t needed

The site has been narrowed to an area north of Zug Island near River Rouge that runs 2.5 km to the current Ambassador Bridge. The Canadian side has feasible matching locations in that area, said Mohammed Alghurabi, senior project manager with the Michigan Department of Transportation, adding that the goal is to connect the crossing with Interstate 75 on the U.S. side and Highway 401 in Canada.

The exact location should be selected by the end of 2007, Alghurabi said.

The binational Border Transportation Partnership — a joint group made up of local and federal government and transport officials on both sides of the border — announced last year that it had narrowed down its selection to a new border crossing in southwest Windsor-Detroit.

The group decided not to support the other two major proposals on the docket — the Detroit River Tunnel Partnership’s Jobs Tunnel project, which would have converted the existing rail tunnel into a truck corridor; and the Ambassador Bridge’s plan to twin the existing span.

Recently, two consultants hired by the Ambassador Bridge scoffed at the suggestion another bridge is needed at the world’s busiest trade gateway and called the binational process in selecting a new crossing “flawed.”

The consultants argue that there is no shrinking capacity at the Ambassador. The border problems instead lie in poor and outdated infrastructure on feeder routes and inspection facilities leading to the bridge.

— with files from Associated Press