DETROIT, (June 10, 2005) — Two Michigan government officials was to ensure that any new border crossing spanning across the Detroit River into Windsor, Ont. will be in public hands, a local newspaper reports.

According to the The South End newspaper, Steve Tobocman (D-Detroit) and Kathleen Law (D-Gibraltar), have introduced legislation that would allow the government to control a new border crossing as well as increase public oversight on existing bridges like the privately-owned Ambassador Bridge in order to firm up security.

Currently, the Ambassador’s owner Matty Moroun has unfettered rights — even over law enforcement and engineers — to any of the bridge’s operations.

Under the proposal, a publicly created group called the Detroit River Border Authority would oversee the construction and operation of a new border crossing, the South End reports. Law says she got the idea from legislation that led to the Mackinac Bridge and International Bridge authorities.

The group would also issue annual operating permits to all Michigan international border crossings, regulate tolls at these crossings, and address any security concerns. The officials say that border crossings that are publicly owned have a much higher security presence and often are better maintained.

The proposed bills must still make their way out of committee meetings before being put to a vote, the newspaper states.

Windsor MP Brian Masse is proposing legislation creating the Windsor-Essex Border Development and Protection Authority, which has similar goals to the U.S. plan.

City officials on the Canadian side of the river have been pushing for a new border for years. In January, City Council unanimously endorsed a blueprint drafted by New York City traffic expert Sam Schwartz, who proposed a new international bridge just a few miles southwest of the Ambassador.

That proposed “Industrial Corridor Bridge” — which is still awaiting bilateral approval — would take trucks off the jammed Huron Church Rd. and surrounding streets en route to the U.S., say proponents.

But as Today’s Trucking reported earlier this year, many observers close to the issue feel that any public group trying to cover a new bridge would likely have to take on Moroun — and his lawyers. Various reports state that the billionaire powerbroker owns or is in the process of acquiring much of the land on the riverfront corridor, and also has building rights for overhead and bridge piers in the location where the new bridge is proposed. (For more info on this front, check out this TT column: (www.todaystrucking.com/perspective.cfm?ID=3/28/05)

As one source told Today’s Trucking in March, “he’s not at checkmate yet, but he’s pretty close.”

— with files from The South End newspaper