US gives Mich. 2nd Detroit-Canada bridge permit
Apr 12, 2013, 4:00 PM
LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Michigan has won federal approval to build a second bridge between Detroit and Canada.
The permit awarded Friday by the State Department is a key step for the $3.5 billion project aimed at relieving congestion and speeding up trade at the busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing.
Construction could start by 2016 and be finished by 2020. But lawsuits challenging the project have been filed by the owners of the Ambassador Bridge, which currently is the lone bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
Snyder has called the suits delay tactics.
The permit comes 10 months after Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper struck a deal calling for Canada to pay for the bridge. It also comes after Michigan voters rejected an Ambassador Bridge owners’ attempt to stop the project.
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