LANSING – The Detroit River International Crossing is one step closer to becoming a new route across the nation’s busiest border with approval of the environmental study. But the DRIC project still has some substantial hurdles to clear before construction can begin.

The Record of Decision by the Federal Highway Administration, issued Wednesday, is the last federal regulatory step in the process, but supporters still need to win over state legislative support to garner the funding needed for the project.

“The new border crossing system empowers Michigan’s economic recovery and revitalization as evidenced by the broad business community support for the project,” said Governor Jennifer Granholm. “In addition to fueling our economic engine and creating jobs, an expanded Detroit-Windsor border crossing system will benefit every traveler who relies on safe, efficient border crossings.”

Senate Republicans conceded in the current-year budget to allowing the Department of Transportation complete the needed studies on the bridge, but forbid the department from using any of its funding this year for construction of the bridge.

“I haven’t seen any further information saying a new Ambassador Bridge is needed along with a DRIC bridge,” said Senate Majority Floor Leader Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt), one of the leaders in the effort to block the state-funded bridge in favor of the privately-owned Ambassador.

Canadian officials have so far protested adding traffic at the Ambassador Bridge site, but Cropsey said they need to instead spend the money they said they would to improve the plazas at their end of the bridge.

But Department of Transportation spokesperson Bill Shreck said another span at the Ambassador would not be enough.

“It’s a significant part of a border crossing system and one that we need in order to make sure that we are the world leader in terms of logistics,” he said of the DRIC bridge.

Building both the public and the private span would help the state catch up to Buffalo, New York, which already has four crossings, Shreck said.

Michigan has four border crossings now, but only three (the Ambassador, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron) are close to the state’s major population and manufacturing centers, as well as the multi-modal centers envisioned by state officials.

“This is a significant milestone,” said Transportation Director Kirk Steudle. “Once built, the new crossing system will boost U.S. and Canadian trade by expanding the busiest trade corridor in the western hemisphere. Activity on the Michigan side of the border will create 10,000 construction jobs and more than 30,000 indirect jobs during the construction period. This project is needed to transition the border crossing into a modern, multimodal network to securely move people and goods between the United States and Canada and make Southeast Michigan an even more prominent gateway for global commerce.”

Shreck also noted that the proposed Ambassador Bridge expansion would use the current toll plaza, making it vulnerable to being shut down and taking with it much of the state’s border traffic. “We need to make sure we’d have a border crossing that functions no matter what,” he said.

He anticipated money to begin land purchases and construction of the DRIC bridge would be included in the department’s 2009-10 budget when that document is released next month, noting that the funds have been included in all recent prior budgets.

The announcement of the federal approval drew praise from Sen. Ray Basham (D-Taylor) and Sen. Glenn Anderson (D-Westland), saying moving ahead with the bridge would help create jobs and boost the region’s economy.

And Rep. Lee Gonzalez (D-Flint) praised the action as well, pointing out that the Detroit/Windsor crossing is the busiest international crossing in the country. If the state is serious about reviving its economy then a new span has to be part of the recovery effort, he said.

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