DETROIT — Traffic on the Ambassador Bridge between Michigan and Ontario may be thicker than usual starting next month.

Construction work on a $20 million deck replacement will begin the first week of July. The work is expected to take up to two years.

Workers will replace one lane at a time as three of the span’s four lanes will remain open.

Tolls from the private crossing will pay for the project. The company said in a statement that it has no plans to raise tolls to cover the cost.

The overall safety of the 80-year-old bridge made headlines recently as the bridge owner, Matty Moroun, sued to keep a third-party safety report out of the public eye.

The report noted that the main deck span is in "poor condition," but overall, the bridge is in "fair condition."

Moroun plans to build a new, larger twin adjacent to the Ambassador, but is opposed by Canada and the Michigan Dept of Transportation, which are working together on building a separate public-private bridge downriver.

State legislators in the House recently gave the MDOT the green light to continue on with the project, but that bill is expected to face much tougher opposition in the Republican-controlled state Senate while it’s debated this week.