New Detroit bridge owes existence to Canada

There is one thing to be said about the Detroit River International Crossing: Canada wants it; it wants it badly.

The new bridge between Detroit and Windsor has been a tough sell on this side of the border. Michigan taxpayers never were enthused about it, so Gov. Rick Snyder worked out a deal with Canadian leaders that funds the bridge’s construction with an estimated 2.1 billion Canadian dollars.

When the Obama administration didn’t include money for the bridge’s U.S. customs plaza, the Canadians again stepped up. The Canadian government has agreed to pay the $250 million cost for the inspection plaza on the span’s Detroit side.

If Canada’s financing of the U.S.-Canadian bridge appears unusual, it is. But supporters cite the span’s importance to U.S.-Canadian trade — and Canada wants that trade enhanced.

“A new Windsor-Detroit crossing remains one of Canada’s top infrastructure priorities for Canada,” Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said in a statement on the plaza construction agreement.

Canada will recoup its investment in toll revenue when the bridge opens. So Canadian politicians are assuring their constituents that the project won’t require new taxes. Everybody wins.

Still, it is worth noting what can happen when Ottawa is on board even when Washington is not.

Port Huron’s Blue Water Bridge plaza was scheduled for substantial expansion some years ago, but the federal dollars dried up. That didn’t happen before a large swath of the city lost its homes and business to the expansion’s footprint.

Apparently, Canada never was as interested in augmenting trade between Port Huron and Sarnia as it is in the commerce between Detroit and Windsor.

In any case, Port Huron and St. Clair County still are recovering from the scrapped plaza expansion’s effects. As remarkable as the effort to build a new Detroit-Windsor bridge and its U.S. plaza might be, there is little appetite here for revisiting the Blue Water Bridge plaza project.

The lesson is when Washington is broke, Ottawa might be willing to take on the financing — but that depends upon the project. The Blue Water Bridge undoubtedly is a vital instrument of U.S.-Canadian trade. Expanding its U.S. Customs Plaza proved to be less vital.

On that point, Washington and Ottawa seem to agree.