FORT ERIE, Ont. — Despite getting turned down for a presidential permit to build a private bridge in Fort Erie-Buffalo, the Ambassador Niagara Signature Bridge Group insists it isn’t giving up. 

According to The Niagara Falls Review, the U. S. State Department denied the federal permit to build a four-lane bridge a few kilometers north of the Peace Bridge, near the existing International Railroad Bridge.

The Ambassador Niagara Signature Bridge Group — which foresees its bridge handling most of the commercial traffic at the gateway — is also part of the same company that owns the Ambassador Bridge at the Windsor-Detroit border.

The State Department’s director of Canadian affairs, Edwin Nolan, sent a letter back, indicating the application does not meet the requirements to demonstrate "support by relevant authorities and to include information concerning details of any other permits granted or in process."

The Ambassador Group doesn’t see the denial as a setback, though.

James Kane, regional director for the Ambassador, said the group did not expect to get its application approved on its first try and will be back again. "It’s a working document," he told the newspaper.

The company faces headwinds from both the cities of Buffalo and Fort Erie, however. City officials seem to prefer plan to twin the Peace Bridge instead.

The federal government also hasn’t made it easy on the private company, declaring that a law on the books since 1923 thwarts any plans of a privately-owned secondary international border crossing in the region.