By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
LANSING, MI –
Officials from Governor Rick Snyder's administration say they are getting ready to push the Legislature on a proposal to build a second bridge span between Detroit and Canada. Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley says they plan to introduce a bill as soon as next month, after budget and tax deals have been ironed out.
Calley says the Ambassador Bridge Company is running a monopoly on international trade over the Detroit River.
"The governor started out, right out of the blocks, advocating for a fix to that problem," he says. "A fix that doesn't really hold or contain any risk at all for the people of the state of Michigan, but instead put the power of the private sector behind a new project and says that we're not for monopolies anymore, we're for competition.'"
Calley appeared at a speaking engagement Tuesday with the Canadian consul general to Detroit. Both men assured a group of Lansing business owners that the cost of a publically owned second bridge would not fall to Michigan taxpayers.