Joint Canada-U.S. customs plaza pitched for $1B bridge

The idea of a single mulitmillion-dollar customs plaza built on one side of the new international bridge that will connect Windsor, Ont., and Detroit has been floated and is getting support from border experts.

Two years ago, Canada and the U.S. agreed on a new crossing to be built over the Detroit River and paid for by Canada. However, Canada expected the U.S. to build its own $250-million customs plaza in Michigan.

While Canada has moved ahead on the project, building a $1.6-billion, four-lane highway leading up to the site of the proposed bridge and acquiring land in Michigan, the U.S. has yet to announce funding for a plaza...

On Tuesday, Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat and current vice-president at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, suggested the answer may be one customs plaza to serve both countries...

One of Canada’s leading border experts says the idea is “intriguing.”

“I think it’s an interesting idea. It’s consistent with the new spirit of co-operation on border issues between the U.S. and Canada,” said Bill Anderson, Ontario research chair in cross-border transportation policy at the University of Windsor.

Two years ago, the Canada-U.S. Ship Rider Program was unveiled. The joint program underway in the Windsor-Detroit area allows law enforcement officers from Canada and the U.S. to ride together on the Detroit River, patrolling and chasing down criminals on both sides of the international boundary...

On the ground, a shared customs complex, also known as a shared port of entry, exists in Alberta at the Coutts-Sweetgrass land crossing.

In Fort Erie, Ont., U.S. Customs officials already work on Canadian soil, “pre-processing” U.S.-bound trucks in Fort Erie.

In January, the Buffalo and Fort Erie Peace Bridge Authority finished a $1-million U.S. Customs and Border Protection pre-inspection pilot pad, inspection booths, offices, parking and secure access on Canadian soil. Pre-inspection is designed to increase traffic flow...

The move was made because of “available staging space” on the Canadian side of the peace bridge, according to the authority’s website...

Anderson said Windsor has “a great deal of land on the Canadian side” of the proposed bridge...

Robertson said a single plaza would be “probably on the Canadian side.”

Even Robertson said some issues would have to be ironed out, including U.S. borders guards carrying guns in Canada.

There were similar questions surrounding the Ship Rider program, but they were answered...

Windsor West NDP MP Brian Masse, the party’s border critic, said a single plaza "sounds simple, but it actually is very complicated. It has been done in other areas. There's actually joint border crossings across Canada and the United States, but this is very unique because of the volumes that we have and the types of things that we have going back and forth."...

The new crossing has been called “critical” by both Transport Minister Lisa Raitt and new U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman...

This has been excerpted from 11 April 2014 article by CBC News and is available in its entirety at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/joint-canada-u-s-customs-plaza-pitched-for-1b-bridge-1.2606884.