DRIC costs to soar, study predicts
A second bridge across the Detroit River is not needed and will face cost overruns and interest payments for the entire project of feeder roads and plazas that could reach $8 billion, according to a study funded by the Ambassador Bridge company.
“The (bridge) is being built prematurely in advance of anticipated demand and ignoring other alternatives,” said Pat O’Keefe, CEO of O’Keefe & Associates Consulting which released its findings on Thursday. “Until this project financially is fully vetted we have concerns.”
The planned $1 billion Detroit River International Crossing bridge has widespread support from the business community on both sides of the border, but faces a key vote in Michigan on Nov. 6 when residents across the state will be asked to approve a ballot proposal that would require voter approval before any new bridge could be built.
The proposal reached the ballot following a petition drive spearheaded this spring by Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun, who is waging a vigorous campaign to kill the DRIC bridge and protect $60 million of annual toll revenues and millions more in duty-free sales at his own crossing.
He has spent more than $5 million on advertising across Michigan in a bid to sway voters to support his Proposal 6.
The Canadian government has offered up to $550 million to pay for the state’s share of the DRIC bridge project and recoup the funds through tolls, but Moroun’s supporters say nothing in the state is free.
Along with the study’s release, the bridge company also got support Thursday from Grover Norquist, CEO of Americans for Tax Reform, a leader in the U.S. against increasing taxes and government spending.
“There is no such thing as a free government program, especially when it comes to infrastructure spending,” Norquist said. “This proposed new bridge to Canada is no exception.
“It is imperative that any discussion of such a massive publicly funded project should give taxpayers a final say. A yes vote on Proposal 6 ensures that federal and state lawmakers must make the case to voters that any new bridge to Canada is in Michigan’s best interest.”
But wording in the ballot initiative has sparked fear it not only threatens to stop the DRIC bridge, but also the proposed $400-million Detroit River rail tunnel project or new bridges anywhere in Michigan, according to state government officials who support the DRIC bridge and combating Moroun’s proposal.
“The campaign of distortions and outright fabrications waged by the special-interest group bankrolling Proposal 6 continues,” Ken Silfven, spokesman for Gov. Rick Snyder, said Thursday. “They’re trying to scare voters by saying nothing is free. The fact is that the (DRIC bridge) will be paid for — just not by Michigan’s taxpayers.
“We have a clear, legally binding contract that’s been analyzed by objective third parties such as the news media and private-sector attorneys. There is absolutely, unequivocally no liability to Michigan taxpayers. Period.”
The governor has maintained that an agreement with Canada approving the DRIC bridge he signed in June with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in attendance takes precedence over the ballot initiative and its construction will proceed.
“Requiring statewide votes on an international crossing — and quite possibly every local bridge project across Michigan — carries a hefty price tag,” Silfven said. “It’s not good government and it’s certainly not cost-effective government.
“It boils down to this: They’re protecting a lucrative monopoly and we’re protecting Michigan’s future. It’s that simple.”