Detroit Narrowing Choices for Potential New Canada Bridge

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wo routes for a new bridge from Detroit into Canada have been eliminated from a list of possibilities, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) said Tuesday that a binational study group of U.S. and Canadian officials has eliminated the Downriver area and Detroit's Belle Isle as possible sites for the bridge, the paper reported.

While the governor’s office said a dozen sites remain under consideration, in practical terms the list appears to have been narrowed to a relative handful, including the area adjacent to the existing Ambassador Bridge to points farther down the Detroit river, the Free Press said.

The Border Transportation Partnership, which eliminated other possibilities, consists of the Federal Highway Administration, Transport Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and the Michigan Department of Transportation.

In recent months, many residents of the Downriver communities had protested the idea of a new bridge to Canada in their area, fearing a huge increase in truck traffic, noise and pollution, the paper said.

The Belle Isle alternative did not draw anywhere near the same level of protests, but the study team eliminated it after a preliminary examination, it reported.