New downriver Detroit Windsor Bridge plan permits granted by US Gov

A new Detroit Windsor toll bridge has got its final permits from the US Government, marking a further important step toward improving connectivity in the most important US-Canadian trade route. The new bridge planned about two miles (3.2km) downstream of the Ambassador Bridge including some 15km (9 miles) of road would provide a high quality direct connection between I-75 in Michigan and H401 in Ontario.

On the Canadian side the environmental permitting is due for completion this autumn. Governments on both sides of the border seem to have cooperated smoothly by doing a series of end-to-end of studies fitting the needs of the communities in both Windsor and Detroit.

Likely to be a cable stay span

Bridge types were analyzed in a study by Parsons. They found the capital cost of a cable stay bridge marginally cheaper than a suspension bridge ($800m vs $820m) but when maintenance costs are taken into account the advantage swings more strongly to the cable-stay bridge. It's about 10% cheaper by life-cycle costing.

Suspension spans are more vulnerable to failure with their main suspension cables whereas cable stay bridges have no comparable single point vulnerability. So add in the greater resilience of a cable stay bridge - which can lose individual cables without collapse - and there's another count against building a suspension span.

Cost of construction the bridge is likely to be around $800m but the the total project cost is approximately $4.2 billion total:  split into US costs $1,800m, Transport Canada costs $900m, Ontario costs $1500m.

The bridge will be the largest cable-stay span in North America. It will have an 840m (2756ft) main span with symmetrical side spans of 320m (1050ft). Parsons proposes 3.5m (11.5ft) deep cast-in-place concrete box girder for the side spans and the ends of the main span and similar depth orthotropic steel box girder for the majority of the central span.

A 36m (118ft) width deck would provide for 2x3 travel lanes, central median barrier, shoulders both sides of each roadway and pedestrian and bike lanes.

Minimum clearance for shipping would be 40.5m (133ft) and 47.5 (156ft) in mid channel. Towers would be 250m (819ft) high.

Traffic & revenue study under way

On the Canadian side the bridge itself will be the responsibility of Transport Canada, the equivalent of USDOT. An official there told us they are ready to do a a toll concession for the bridge. Last year they awarded a contract to Wilbur Smith Associates in association with IBI Group for just over C$1 mllion ($820k) for an investment grade traffic and revenue study to be ready July 2009.

A USDOT spokesman told us Michigan DOT (MDOT) is taking the lead and is expected to develop a plans for advancing the project over the next few months. Bill Shreck of MDOT said that like the Canadians they favor a private sector toll concession to build the bridge and will be moving to get supporting state legislation during the course of the year. They will want general legislation for P3s and also legislation specifically authorizing the downriver bridge.

Canadian and US officials express some frustration at delays at MDOT, which has been promising action within the year since 2005. (see presentation to Michigan state transportation commission Oct 27 2005)

Moroun opposition

Some accuse lobbyists for the Ambassador Bridge of getting state politicians to drag their feet on the issue.

There's a continuing fight over the new bridge because the owner of the Ambassador Bridge, Detroit businessman Matty Moroun opposes it and says his bridge will serve future traffic needs if twinned.

Twinning of the Ambassador Bridge has been rejected by a multi-government panel (Ontario, Michigan, USFHWA. Ontario Ministry Transportation) because they say:

- on the Canadian side a high standard connection of the Ambassador Bridge, twinned or single span, to the H401 (the major expressway from the outskirts of Windsor to Toronto and Montreal) has high impacts, much property to be acquired

- the most direct route Huron Church Road can only be upgraded to expressway standard with great difficulty and disruption of existing traffic during construction

- the closeness of the border clearance plazas makes the grade of the approaches steeper for trucks

- there isn't space for extra border clearance capacity on the US side

There's a major improvement, three quarters complete, on the US side connecting the Ambassador Bridge to I-75 called the Gateway project, but there's no feasible proposal on the Canadian side of the border. Truckers and other longdistance drivers would continue to face traffic signals along Huron Church Road, the main street of Windsor.

New Ambassador Bridge

Nevertheless Moroun's Detroit International Bridge Company (DIBC) and the counterpart Canadian Transit Company (CTC) have been saying since Nov 2007 that they propose to build a $500m 6-lane cable stayed bridge immediately west of the existing 1929 suspension span. The new span would be 1890m (62000ft) total length with 670m (2200ft) main span over water, 31m (102ft) wide to accommodate six travel lanes and 46m (152ft) clearance for shipping underneath. It is described as an Enhancement Project and a Replacement Span. The existing 1929 four lane suspension span would be taken out of service, DIBC say, "to evaluate and make repairs deemed necessary and economically feasible."

Moroun's DIBC says their plan is to hold the 1929 bridge as spare capacity, used in the meantime for pedestrians and cyclists. The new span would plug into the existing border clearance plazas on either side.

The US Coast Guard which has to give a permit for any new span is involved in a separate environmental assessment from the four-government study of a new crossing. DIBC claims authority for the bridge in 1921 congressional authorization under a Bridge Act of 1906. Citi has been hired to arrange financing and the companies want private activity bond approval to gain tax-free status for borrowings.

It is difficult to see the new Ambassador bridge proceeding if the 4-government sponsored bridge downriver proceeds because the traffic wouldn't be there to justify it.

Traffic

60% of US-Canadian truck traffic is over the three Detroit area crossings - Ambassador Bridge, Detroit Windsor Tunnel, Blue Water Bridge. 5.33m out of 8.51m in 2004 or 14.6k/day of 23.3k/day.  The growth in just-in-time deliveries in the auto industry requires frequent truckload movements and has diminished the already subsidiary role of rail in the corridor.  About 50% of the truck traffic is locally generated.

The bulk of the passenger traffic - about three quarters - is local-local, that is people in the Detroit and Windsor areas interacting via jobs, shopping, recreation just across the river. 90% of the passenger traffic originates or is destined locally. Long distance travelers are less than 10%.

Ambassador Bridge truck traffic grew rapidly  through the 1990s going from 1.5m to 3.5m truck crossings - an average annual growth rate of close to 9%. But traffic has declined from 2000.

Person crossings are down substantially. During the 1990s jobs in the Detroit area induced a major increase in Canadians commuting from Windsor on a daily basis. A travel demand study put the number of Windsor residents with US jobs at 7k in 2001 vs only 2.5k in 1991. Unlike Michigan which has been stagnant for decades, Ontario has had high and economic population growth in which the Windsor area has shared. Windsor metro area workforce increased 50% in the 1980s and 1990s.

Forecasts

The new crossing forecasts are for an increase in Detroit River crossings over 30 years of 57% for car traffic and 128% for trucks. A trend line toward that would overload capacity by about 2020, but they say the crossings could be overloaded as early as 2015 with a high growth scenario and by 2035 with a low growth scenario. (see graph above)

There are considerable uncertainties about cross border travel and trade. It is affected by many unpredictables such as changes in:

- US$/C$ exchange rate

- border crossing hassles, delays, and annoyances

- lifestyles allowed each side (casinos, brothels, abortions,drug laws)

- immigration law and enforcement

- trade/tariff barriers

- sales taxes

Blue Water Bridge Pt Huron MI to Sarnia Ont is 90km (55mi) from Detroit  and is more circuitous for traffic with origins or destinations to the south. But it has full expressway approaches either side and quicker border clearance plazas and is competitive for longdistance traffic.

Detroit Windsor Tunnel is 3km (1.8mi) upstream northeast of the Ambassador bridge.

The new bridge (X10B in a list of alternates) proposed by the 4-government partnership would be 3.2km (2 miles) downstream southeast of the existing Ambassador Bridge.

The Ambassador Bridge Canadian Plaza is 3.5km (2.2 miles) and five city blocks on a signalized Huron Church Road to get to the EC Row Expressway. There's another 7km (4.3 miles) planned as an upgrade along Huron Church Rd and Hwy 3 to expressway standard - a large project called Windsor Essex Parkway.

That Parkway only gets built however as part of the link of the 4-government planned new bridge and the H401.

Windsor-Essex Parkway

Ontario Ministry of Transportation with URS has done  neat job designing a complicated below grade 10km (6 mile) Windsor-Essex Parkway of expressway standard with 2x3 through lanes and continuous service roads - an estimated C$1.6b (C$-2011). The Parkway unlike many roads of that name really is parklike. It has extensive pocket parks along it including eleven segments totaling 1.8km of it (1.1 miles) where the through lanes are lidded to allow parks to be built above it. The road project creates 1.2km2 (300acres) of new parkland, 20km (12 miles) of walking and bike trails, many ponds and noise mitigation.

As well as providing a connection to the new bridge the Parkway improves access to the Ambassador bridge, reducing the amount of surface roads needed to be used on the Windsor side from 10.5km (6.5 miles) and 17 signals to 3.5km (2.2 miles) and 5 signals. 

http://www.weparkway.ca/

Texas comes to Michigan

I-75 at least in the area of the interchange to the new downriver bridge is to get a dose of Texas highway planning with 5+5 main lanes and frontage roads with slip ramps to the and from the mainline and U-turns at each intersection  making for wide, wide overbridges to accommodate four directions of traffic.

Selection process

In August 2005 the four-government Border Transportation Partnership (USFHWA, Michigan DOT, Transport Canada and Ontario Ministry Transportation) announced it would evaluate government ownership, and a concession agreement with the four governments. URS, Parsons and IBI have been major contractors to the Partnership on planning and permitting.

In October 2005 an examination of 15 alternatives concluded that eight should be eliminated as not meeting needs.

Two private sector proposals were rejected:

- a trucks-only tunnel along the alignment of the Canadian Pacific railroad tunnel (DRTP corridor), because of inadequate addition to capacity

- twinning of the Ambassador Bridge because of damaging impacts in Windsor and construction staging complexities

Twinning the Ambassador Bridge was ranked 6th out of 15 alternatives, scoring 288 compared to 312 for the chosen alternative X10B.

4-government modeling shows the new crossing (X10B) carrying slightly more traffic than the Ambassador Bridge by 2035.

Financing

A USDOT 'Backgrounder' statement released Jan 15 2009 with the US Record of Decision in favor of the X10B crossing says on financing:

"The new border crossing system will cost $1.8 billion for the US portion of the bridge, the plaza and the new interchange with I-75. This cost will be covered by a number of sources. The bridge itself will be paid for by the private sector in partnership with state and federal government. While the private participant will use tolls to build, operate and maintain the new bridge, the Border Transportation Partnership will provide public oversight and ensure the accountability of any private sector participation to ensure a safe and secure international border crossing system."

Tolling

Both the US and Canadian permitting reports have toll plazas. The US border control plaza has a traditional stop-to-pay flared-out 10 lane toll plaza for Canada-bound traffic.  The plans also show a toll administration building.  There's a similar toll plaza on the Canadian side for traffic going into the US.

Apparently the toll collection would include a full suite including toll booths for manual with gates, electronic tolling to handle transponders, license plate readers, vehicle classification...

Parkway to be shadow toll or availability contract

Ontario Ministry of Transport plan to finance their Windsor Essex Parkway with an availability payments or shadow toll project. They have decided against tolls.  Their procurement could begin with RFI/RFQ before the final environmental clearance in the autumn, with the RFP towards the end of the year.

Transport Canada and Michigan DOT officials say they hope to be able to move for a toll concession procurement for the bridge and its approaches around the end of this year. But this depends on  the Michigan legislature granting the necessary authority.

http://www.partnershipborderstudy.com

TOLLROADSnews 2009-01-21