DETROIT — A Michigan budget passed this week allows the planner of a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor to continue its design, engineering and environmental work.

However, according to local media, The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) budget for spending on the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) is capped at $2.5 million for 2010.

The budget, passed by House-Senate conference committee just a few hours before the end of the state fiscal year, also prohibits activities that bind the state to construction work.

Even though DRIC is limited to $2.5 of state cash, it will still reportedly have about $12.5 to spend thanks to an 80/20 percent match from the federal government.

The legislation also requires MDOT to do a investment grade traffic and revenue (T&R) study and present the state Legislature with a proposal by May 1.

The DRIC issue had been a major roadblock in passing the MDOT budget.

The study group charged with planning and selecting the site of a second span across the Detroit River is being vehemently opposed by the owner of the private Ambassador Bridge, Matty Moroun. 

Moroun’s opposition is shared by Senate Majority Floor Leader Alan Cropsey, who has been trying to kill funding for DRIC for years and in the past has said spending money on the project when a commercial crossing already exists is "lunacy."

Sources tell todaystrucking.com that the bill’s language was a compromise between Cropsey and House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation chairman, Lee Gonzales.

Last week, Gonzales was criticized in ads printed in Detroit newspapers for his support for DRIC.