Detroit’s Infrastructure — an Emotional Earthquake

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Why waste time writing about Detroit’s infrastructure?

We have a nation in an emotional, fiscal earthquake. The tremors arise in all the states, and the Richter Scale that catches it all is Washington D.C.

A great example of the problem is evident here in Michigan. We have what is a locked in Public Private Partnership, created by the Canadian government’s lending of $500 million, with no recourse, in order to build a second bridge. Canada is a sovereign nation and Ontario is a province of Canada, not a territory of Michigan or the United States. The city of Windsor, Province of Ontario, and Dominion of Canada are adamant that a bridge be constructed so traffic does not travel through the University of Windsor area. Similar to Detroit, the city of Windsor has a residential and commercial density near the city center and the close surrounding environments. To place an unnecessary additional vehicular burden in that area simply does not make sense.

In addition to Windsor’s desire to place the bridge away from the city, we have the issue of American national security. What are we thinking? We need two bridges in case something terrible happens to one. Further, the existing bridge needs potential repair if for whatever reason the Detroit International Bridge Co. will not allow the bridge to hook up to the U.S. Department of Transportation paid for road improvements. Here we are … rerouting traffic from I-75 for a year and a half so the freeway could be rebuilt for easy access to the bridge. Yet the bridge company fails to hook the bridge up as it promised to in the original agreement with MDOT.

Exacerbating all this is the fact that, while the bridge is not tied to I-75, the “broken” access point suffices to sell duty-free goods to those traveling to Canada, allowing an additional profit to be made for gas sales, all with a lower charge because no governmental taxation is placed on gasoline and liquor. So are we talking about allowing private enterprise to be available for government activity?