TORONTO, (April 22, 2005) — American border states are taking a hard economic hit — up to $4.13 billion US a year — because of border delays and congestion at Ontario-U.S. crossings, says a study released yesterday by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

The group — which says the $4.13 billion figure can be translated to about $500,000 an hour — reports that Michigan and Ohio are paying the heaviest price, with New York and Pennsylvania closely behind. The study guesses that the U.S. could lose more than 17,000 jobs by 2020 if customs processing and border infrastructure isn’t improved soon.

The report cited heightened security by U.S. Customs, and general freight volume patterns that have outgrown the capacity of current roads and bridges at major U.S.-Ontario crossings.

Last year, the group’s first study found Ontario alone is also losing about 5.25 billion Cdn. a year.

Chamber President Len Crispino told Canadian Press that he wants to see action on a new crossing at Windsor-Detroit — the corridor where about 25 percent of all Canada-U.S. trade is transported.

That plan has been thrown off track several times by old fashioned politics and red tape, as governments, citizens, and private interests on both sides of the border can’t seem to agree on a solution.

The report was released on the same day the Ontario and Canadian governments announced up to $129 million to study and commence design on road improvements truck routes that would eventually lead to a new border crossing for the Windsor-Detroit gateway.

As TodaysTrucking.com reported in a special report yesterday, not all parties were satisfied with the announcement. The City of Windsor is up in arms that the feds refused to join their provincial cousins in backing an international truck route that would take trucks from Hwy. 401 to Talbot Rd. and then bypass the heavily congested Huron Church Rd. through to Ojibway Parkway.

That plan — designed by N.Y. City traffic expert Sam Schwartz — was the proposal ultimately chosen by Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis and city council earlier this year.

Instead, the joint provincial-federal plan will put most of the $21 million allocated for assessments towards studying and designing an alternate truck route — one rejected by the City of Windsor and criticized by Schwartz himself — via a Lauzon Parkway and E.C. Row extension.

— with files from Canadian Press