LANSING – Despite an escalating campaign against it, Governor Rick Snyder said he continued to support the construction of a new bridge from Detroit to Canada. Snyder said Tuesday that he had expected it would be a task to move the issue through the Legislature.
“Last year there was a tremendous amount of misinformation,” he said. “We’re starting below zero in some ways.”
He said the legislation to allow construction of the bridge last year also was flawed in some ways over the plan for this year.
The project has faced a fierce opposition campaign from the Detroit International Bridge Company, owners of the rival Ambassador Bridge, which has argued the new bridge is designed to siphon away traffic, and tolls, from its bridge. That campaign, most recently expanded to a television ad, has to date been successful in swaying Republicans against the proposed new bridge. The ad is full of distortions and half truths.
The company also released a report Tuesday showing its traffic has fallen 41 percent since March 2000. The document showed 645,853 vehicles crossed the bridge last month, compared to 1.09 million vehicles in March 2000.
The report noted that car traffic was up from the same month for each of the last three years, but truck traffic topped only March 2009, the midst of the recession.
Americans for Prosperity-Michigan joined the opposition campaign in earnest this week, arguing the new bridge would not generate sufficient toll revenue to cover its costs and that a private company would build a second bridge if one is needed.
Snyder said the new bridge is not designed to replace, or oppose, the Ambassador or any other existing bridge in the state.
“It’s about supporting what’s good for our state,” Snyder said. The new bridge would generate additional international trade, which in turn would create new jobs in the state, he said.
This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com
a>>
