DETROIT — Ottawa has sent a strong message to the mayor of the largest US-Canada border town not to proceed with a plan to connect the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel with the Ambassador Bridge.

The government of Canada says it may take legal action if Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick approves a $30 million offer by Grosse Pointe, Mich. powerbroker Matty Moroun for 25 acres of land between his own Ambassador Bridge and the publicly-controlled tunnel.

According to the Detroit News, Moroun’s bridge company is trying to acquire the riverfront land to build a “secured road” and large international toll station for both the bridge and the tunnel — which is owned by the cities of Detroit and Windsor, Ont. and operated by the Detroit & Canada Tunnel Corp. All customs officials would be moved to the U.S. toll station as part of the proposal.

Link between bridge and tunnel would give private
interests a monopoly on the border, Ottawa says

Earlier this month, reports also suggested Kilpatrick was negotiating the hand-over of the tunnel itself to Moroun’s private bridge company. A written proposal obtained by the newspaper stated terms under which the bridge company could keep toll revenue from the tunnel and to set toll charges.

The plan is an international security threat and would provide Moroun with a monopoly over the only two major current crossings, Canada insists. “We are taking this situation very seriously,” said Mike Butler, spokesman for Transport Canada, told the newspaper.

Windsor gets between $6 million and $7 million in U.S. in tolls from the tunnel, and pays the Tunnel Corp. a management fee in return.

Detroit City Council members unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the deal, but the mayor’s office is repordedly continuing to negotiate the deal anyway.

Over the years local media has reported that Moroun and other bridge company executives have contributed significantly to the campaigns of Kilpatrick and his mother, U.S. congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick.

— with files from the Detroit News