WINDSOR, Ont. — Transport Canada is conducting surveys at Windsor and Sarnia border crossings to get information on future traffic and revenue that might convince a private company to help build and operate a new bridge, according to the Windsor Star.

The Ambassador Bridge, which is owned and operated by a private company, refused to let Transport Canada conduct in-person interviews on its property, according to the Star.

President Dan Stamper said he’s not going to help the Canadian government take away the Ambassador Bridge’s business.

The bridge company has been fighting the federal governments of Canada and the U.S. on plans to build a new crossing about 3 km downriver. Instead, it is forging ahead with its own project to construct a new six-lane twin span next to the Ambassador.

Transport Canada spokesman on Windsor issues, Mark Butler, says Ottawa is interested in collecting the information from trucking firms and owner-ops — in order to create a revenue and traffic forecast to attract a private partner to help build and operate the next bridge.

The feds have already declared the new bridge would be operated through a public-private partnership.

“Ownership would be with the government of Canada, but you need to know how much traffic will be on the new bridge, how much tolls will be and so forth,” Butler told The Star.

Stamper told the newspaper that any new bridge in the region won’t be a “solution to a transportation problem, but a cannibalization of other traffic.”

Similar surveys will be handed out at the Bluewater Bridge in Sarnia soon.

— with files from the Windsor Star