Project seen as way to bridge financing gap

Detroit-windsor span hailed as ‘breakthrough’ for not relying on tax funds for construction

LEIPZIG, GERMANY – A future multibillion dollar bridge in Canada found itself at the centre of a discussion at a transportation forum here. But it was not the replacement for the Champlain Bridge.

John Horsley, a former transport official in the Clinton administration, hailed the replacement project for the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor as the “breakthrough that will make financing possible” for such large infrastructure deals.

It was all the more remarkable, said Horsley, now executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, because the span is a binational effort.

“What we learned from that is not to wait anymore for federal fi- nancing,” he told the closing panel of the fifth annual International Transportation Forum.

“You just can’t wait for tax revenues to fund major highways and bridges anymore.”

Toll financing like the one that will help pay for the future Montreal bridge over the St. Lawrence is an inescapable reality from now on, he said.

Even bonds are not enough to finance multi-billion projects in many instances, he said

Horsley praised U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper for singling out the Windsor-detroit project as a model for the future.

“That’s very interesting in a time of economic crisis.”

But he added that it does not relieve federal governments of overall responsibility for large infrastructure projects.

They must not only fund a significant portion upfront, but also co-ordinate between and mediate with local and regional authorities, which must remain the primary definers and deciders of their region’s needs.

And in the current debate between the benefits of austerity measures versus stimulatory spend- ing for cash-deprived governments, Horsley said that “those who want to cut spending don’t understand the difference between spending and investments.”

Catherine Ross, director of the Georgia Institute of Technology and an internationally recognized transportation expert, also noted the template of the “bridge to the future.”

“It is the busiest U.s.-canada crossing and an important example for the future,” said Ross. “Planning must transcend national and political boundaries.”

Efficient transportation and the seamless flow of people and goods are important now, with the world’s 40 “mega-regions” like Hong Kong- Shenzhen, NagoyaTokyo, Sao-paulo-rio de Janeiro and Nigeria-benin-togo accounting for only 18 per cent of the world’s population but 66 per cent of economic activity.

However, their importance will surge as urban dwellers grow from half of the world’s population currently to about 70 per cent by 2050, Ross said.

In a brief interview with reporters later, Horsley called the $8 billion U.S. appropriation for highspeed rail “an embarrassment,” but still much better than the $2.5 billion earmarked before.

Alain Flausch, the Belgian secretary-general of UITP, a transport organization, said that his country’s constitutional problems in the last two years “to some extent showed a society can work without a government.”

But he added that “seriously, inter-provincial squabbles have stalled some vitally needed infrastructure projects.”

Ross put up a satellite picture of the world at night, with lights showing the planet’s population concentration. Canada was almost totally dark from just north of the U.S. border.