Detroit Emergency Manager Proposes Land Sale For New US-Canada Bridge Project
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - Detroit's state-appointed emergency manager has resubmitted a proposal to sell 301 Detroit-owned properties for $1.4 million as part of plans for a $2 billion bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
The City Council has until next Friday to vote on the land sale to the state of Michigan. The Council was scheduled to vote on the sale in July, but Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr delayed the request after members asked for a community benefits agreement in the sale.
State representatives say a new, non-binding agreement was attached to the land sale proposal Tuesday.
The U.S. State Department approved the project just over a year ago, but construction hasn't started yet. Canada is paying most of the $2 billion project's cost on both sides of the border and plans to recoup the money through tolls.
The new span would cross the Detroit River about two miles south of the Ambassador Bridge, from the Brighton Beach neighborhood in Windsor to the Delray neighborhood in Detroit. Officials say they hope to open the bridge in 2020.
The project is opposed by the owner of the existing Ambassador Bridge, Manuel "Matty" Moroun, whose family wants to build its own second span. Records show the Moroun family has spent over $1 million since 2009 in their fight to stop a new government-owned span.
An estimated 2.7 million trucks pass through the Detroit-Windsor crossing, carrying $120-billion worth of goods annually.
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