Bridge barrier annoys mayor

Move forces travellers entering city to go out of their way to access core
Dave Battagello, Windsor Star
Published: Friday, February 15, 2008

The Ambassador Bridge has taken an unexpected step in its fight with the city of cutting off the main access route to Windsor's downtown.

The company has put up barriers blocking access to northbound Huron Church Road as drivers exit the bridge.

Every vehicle coming off the bridge must now head south on Huron Church, forcing many Windsorites to travel out of their way, while also setting up the potential for U.S. travellers to get lost trying to find the downtown.

Since the barriers are erected on private bridge company property, there appears to be little the city can do about the move.

"Once again, they are doing this the Ambassador Bridge way," said an exasperated Mayor Eddie Francis.

"They have been aggressively seeking permanent closure of that stretch of Huron Church. They know I have expressed (that) any closure of the road will hurt downtown.

"We need that exit to secure access to the casino, to downtown businesses and restaurants. This clearly eliminates that."

The issue was already scheduled to be debated at Tuesday's city council meeting to deal with a bridge request to temporarily shut down the stretch of Huron Church between the bridge exit and Wyandotte Street West.

The bridge wants it closed so it can complete maintenance work.

City administration has recommended council deny the request until the bridge company provides more information about the exact nature of the construction work.

Francis and council also have fears the bridge company is vying for permanent closure of the local road so that it can successfully expand the footprint of its customs plaza operations over to the west side of Huron Church Road -- a key requirement demanded for federal approvals of its twin span proposal.

A race to build the next Windsor-Detroit border crossing has entered its final stages, with a government-backed downriver bridge proposal expected to be unveiled in late March or early April.

Council supports the government process and is fighting against the Ambassador Bridge's twin-span proposal.

Blocking the northbound Huron Church exit with barricades should not be looked upon as a big deal, said Dan Stamper, president of the bridge company.

"We're doing some work on the bridge and to make that safer we need to close that part of Huron Church. People make more out of what we do than reality.

"We are try to maintain (border) traffic and do whatever maintenance is needed. We will open it back up as soon as we can."

He guessed the bridge maintenance work would take about three months to complete and offered that the bridge may open access to the local road occasionally during construction.

He said the road needed to be closed this week because the company is "doing inspection on work that's going to be done."

Stamper then took aim at the city for remaining unco-operative.

"The City of Windsor is not willing to do anything to be helpful for us," he said.

"We are doing what we need to do to make sure the bridge is secure and safe. We hope some day the city will see it's in their interest for the bridge to be efficient. Until that happens we are just plodding along with things we have to do."