How Do Truckers Feel About A Second International Bridge Crossing?

DETROIT (WWJ) - How do you feel about a second bridge between Detroit and Windsor? State lawmakers are getting ready for a hearing Wednesday on the controversial idea.

Governor Rick Snyder supports the project, which is estimated to cost $4 billion for the bridge, customs plazas and connecting roadwork on both sides of the river.

What do truckers think about a second Detroit-Windsor bridge? WWJ's Ron Dewey interviewed some to find out. Ron reports that trucker Vincent DeLorenzo of St. Clair Shores also has a nephew, who's a trucker, hauling steel across the border every day.

"The waits are unreal," DeLorenzo said. "You know, you're in line sometimes up to four or five or six hours."

A downriver trucker, John Akins, says if they do anything with a second bridge, design the layout to make a quicker trip from one side to the other.

"With Homeland Security and stuff, it's so complicated," Akins said. "Pretty much, I just take what I can get. Get across as fast as I can."

Both agree that there should be some level of public ownership in a second bridge.

Meanwhile, the debate continues.  In April of this year, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said the state is running out of time to settle the bridge debate.

And, just last week, residents of a southwest Detroit neighborhood received bogus eviction notices telling them their property could be taken by the state to build a new bridge.

WWJ Newsradio 950 and CBS Detroit.com will provide continuing coverage of the bridge debate.

In:
• Ambassador Bridge