The Ontario Trucking Assn. (OTA) is applauding a recent announcement from the federal and Ontario governments on how they will invest $300 million to facilitate more efficient border crossings in Windsor.

David Bradley, OTA president and CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance welcomed the announcement saying, "The Windsor-Detroit gateway is . . . our economic lifeline. By creating greater freeway access to the border, and providing the potential for additional private sector investments in border-crossing capacity, the infrastructure improvements will significantly improve the flow of trade at Windsor-Detroit, so much of which is time-sensitive freight."
The debate over what to do about traffic problems in Windsor has been ongoing for years, but intensified following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when greater security screening contributed to long border delays for manufacturers and their truckers trying to deliver goods to the United States.
There is no freeway access to the border. Instead, trucks travel the nine-kilometer stretch between Highway 401 and the Ambassador Bridge via Huron Church Road, where cars, trucks, pedestrians and 16 stop lights create congestion.
Last September, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Ontario Premier Ernie Eves, announced they had agreed to jointly contribute $300 million over the next five years to alleviate some of the traffic problems in Windsor over the medium-term.
This was welcome news for the trucking industry, local businesses and for importers and exporters. A Canada-U.S. study was looking at longer-term solutions, but before the recent announcement, there was little hope of seeing the results of the study for another 10-15 years. However, the optimism that that accompanied the initial announcement soon after evaporated as the debate over exactly how to spend the money intensified at the local level.
"We wanted to see freeway-to-freeway access to the border; more separation of cars and trucks; more choice and competition in terms of border crossings; fair opportunity for all private proponents of current and potential new border crossings in Windsor; and we wanted to see the bi-national process accelerated," Bradley said. "It’s gratifying to see the two senior levels of government working together on this vital project."