WINDSOR, Ont. — The president of the Ambassador Bridge said the "flawed" binational process to select and build a second international bridge between Ontario and Michigan could force the private bridge company into filing a legal challenge.

Dan Stamper, whose bridge company is racing the publicly funded Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) team to build a second span across the Detroit River, told the Windsor Star that the environmental assessment for the DRIC project has major "problems" and "fatal flaws."

He added that the bridge’s plan was unfairly ruled out too early back in 2005 when it was considering one of a handful of border solutions, including a publicly controlled bridge downriver, the Ambassador’s own twin span, and the Detroit River Tunnel Partnership’s Jobs Tunnel project, which would have converted the existing rail tunnel into a truck corridor.

The City of Windsor wants its own GreenLink truck
route plan and is willing to sue to get it.

The latter two were dismissed in favor of a separate bridge that connects the Brighton Beach area and the suburb known as Delray, west of Detroit.

Stamper — who’s complained for years the entire border selection process is biased against his company — pointed out that DRIC’s plan would expropriate homes and businesses while the twin span proposal doesn’t require any of that.

The EA is currently undergoing a 32-week review before it goes to Ontario Environment minister John Gerretsen for approval, reports the Star.

Meanwhile, as we’ve reported over the last few months, the City of Windsor is also poised to mount a legal strike against DRIC.

City leaders, including Mayor Eddie Francis, are upset that DRIC is moving ahead with what they say is a watered down version of their preferred plan to build a truck bypass to the new bridge location.

The city wants a six-lane, below grade highway that offers 60 percent more tunneling than the Windsor-Essex Parkway route DRIC is committed to.

Francis has told todaystrucking.com in the past that DRIC’s version undermines its own EA mandate to seriously "consider the solution that best protects the health of citizens and the environment."