The Ambassador Bridge is a small part of the Morouns’ trucking, shipping, and insurance empire, writes Susan Berfield in Bloomberg Businessweek, but it is an important status symbol.
The bridge brings in about $60 million in toll revenue every year and, recently, an inordinate amount of grief. The Morouns are fighting the Republican governor of Michigan, the Canadian prime minister, nearly every major business in the region, and residents on both sides of the border over a proposed multibillion-dollar bridge called the New International Trade Crossing.
The bridge would be two miles downriver from the Ambassador, have six lanes, a bigger customs and immigration plaza, and direct connections to a new Canadian expressway and U.S. highways. It would be a public-private partnership. Michigan and Canada would own it but a private company would fund, build, and operate it for profit. Canada would loan Michigan some $550 million to build new highways. Responsibility for paying back the loans would fall to the bridge operator.
