Some New Thoughts On The Border

The News-Herald Newspapers has been the “Voice of the Downriver” area of Detroit for well over a century. I was sent a very interesting news story outlining information that I had never seen before. If one reads what is said carefully, it must mean that a decision has been made already and that we are truly going through another sham exercise with the Bi-national.

I really do not mind going to their CCG meetings where they try to make us believe that they have not decided anything yet--as long as they remember to serve those delicious strawberry tarts from TBQ's bakery instead of the stale cheese without crackers! Read the story carefully and then I will comment on it briefly afterwards.

• Border link in the future? Connector could cut through Melvindale
  
  By Bobby Ampezzan, The News-Herald
  
  PUBLISHED: November 20, 2005
  
  LANSING — Just when Downriver thought it was out, it could be back in.
  
  On Monday, the Detroit River International Crossing Project, a partnership of U.S. and Canadian government agencies examining the need for another border crossing in the area, announced that southwest Detroit would be the home of the third Detroit-Windsor border crossing.
  
  The partnership caused concern early this year when it announced a number of crossing locations Downriver. All of those proposed sites were eliminated by Gov. Jennifer Granholm last month.
  
  But a graphic on the partnership's Web site outlining the affected area also announces plans to examine the need for a freeway "connector" from I-75 to I-94 through Melvindale, along either Schaefer Highway or Outer Drive.
  
  According to Michigan Department of Transportation spokesman Ben Kohrman, the U.S. State Department has asked the partnership to examine the need for redundancy in the infrastructure leading to the Ambassador Bridge.
  
  We "need to provide redundancy in the road network so a breakdown on I-94 on the way to the (Ambassador Bridge) does not shut the border crossings down," Kohrman said Thursday.
  
  He added that the graphic is strictly conceptual, and, like the need for another border crossing, the study may yield a "no need" conclusion.
  
  "I've been telling (people in) Melvindale, you guys have I-94 and I-75," state Rep. Edward Clemente (D-Lincoln Park) said. "You guys should still be concerned."
  
  But Melvindale Mayor Andrew Luzod is receptive.
  
  He said Wednesday that while the business and home development along Outer Drive presents obstacles to a freeway infrastructure project, the Schaefer corridor is feasible.
  
  Outer Drive between the I-75 and I-94 interchanges winds through three cities: Allen Park, Melvindale and Lincoln Park. The Schaefer corridor involves fewer residential areas of Melvindale and Detroit, but runs perpendicular to the Ambassador Bridge.
  
  Both Luzod and Clemente said they had only heard about the freeway connector this week, and both officials promised to investigate. "

Now I have never heard the need for redundancy of the road system before. That is a new one on me. Redundancy for the bridge, sure, but for roads? It does make sense though.

But note that it is the road to the Ambassador Bridge that is being looked at! That can only mean that the Americans are serious about the Ambassador Gateway as the truck plaza on the other side. (After all, only about $200 million has been spent there which would have to be duplicated at another crossing.)

The other interesting remark is the "no need" solution." I thought we were well past that possibility since volume projections showed this huge increase in traffic over the next 30 years. Obviously the Bridge Co.'s 200 booth proposal now has some legs since the Bi-national had claimed before that it was NOT going to look at it.

I wonder if some US Legislator woke up one morning and has asked the silly question about why we really need to spend $600 million or more of taxpayer money if the Bridge Co. is right and traffic can be handled at the Bridge for the next 20 years or more. Maybe the politician is thinking that the answer is to let THEM spend their $200 million and see what happens down the road ie. DO NOTHING NOW (other than protect the corridor for a new crossing if needed)

I am sure that the answer has been already made and that we all know what it is. However, I expect that those in Government are afraid to say it publicly for fear of the supposed backlash. So we have to go through more misery a step at a time and cause people not to sleep at night for a few more months.