new bridge

You heard that the state of California has budgetary problems? Furgeddit. They've got oodles of millions of taxpayer money to splurge, and no need for any assured revenue stream for maintenance and operations.

Michigan's state senate majority leader Mike Bishop (Republican) says that without revenue forecasts the upper house of the legislature will not vote on authorizing legislation for a new Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC). Michigan DOT which supports the new bridge has released a traffic-only study by Wilbur Smith Associates, but no revenue estimates.

There's a new traffic study on possible future traffic at the US-Canada Detroit River crossing that is far less optimistic than the study done for Michigan DOT by Wilbur Smith Associates (WSA). Conducted by British-based international consultants Halcrow the rival traffic study was commissioned by the Ambassador Bridge company.

With a legislative deadline looming May 1, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm announced a surprise Canadian promise of $550m in loans to help cover Michigan's costs since neither private investors nor the state can finance the new Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) toll bridge.

Michigan DOT say they expect to have a law in place for a P3 concession to build a new international toll bridge over the Detroit River before the end of the year. HB4961 is the bill. The Canadians already have the legal framework for a toll concession.

Michigan DOT envisage a "partnership" with Transport Canada, the national DOT with defined roles for other stakeholders such as FHWA, Ministry Transportation Ontario and border services agencies.

Michigan DOT has released traffic projections for the proposed new international bridge over the Detroit River, for which it recently issued a request for proposals of interest in a PPP. Major finding of the traffic study led by Wilbur Smith Associates is that the recent dramatic declines in traffic on the crossings justify a 2035 projection about ten percent lower than before.

The Government of Canada today announced it had bought 38 hectares (94 acres) of land needed for the new toll bridge on the Detroit River that is to be built under a toll concession administered by the governments of the US, Canada, Michigan and Ontario. The bridge so far known by the bland name Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) has obtained most of the needed environmental clearances and should go out to concession in 2010 for completion 2014.

Detroit's battle of the bridges took a new turn today with the US Government putting on hold the permitting of a new Ambassador bridge between Detroit and Windsor.

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.

Port Authority New York New Jersey (PANYNJ) aka the Seagull has released renderings of a cable stayed design for a new Goethals Bridge. They show an edgy aesthetic of outwardly leaning upwardly bulging towers linked at the top with a sculpted crosspiece, the frames rising between separate roadway decks. There's an empty space in the middle - symbolic?