The Windsor-Detroit gateway is the umbilical cord of the Canadian economy, says Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis.

Almost 25 per cent of Canada-U.S. trade crosses through the gateway, with a total value of about $140 billion annually, according to Transport Canada.

Yet until recently, federal-provincial efforts to ensure a smooth, secure flow of goods across the Detroit River have stalled because they did not involve Windsor and failed to meet community needs, Francis says.

As a result, Windsor city council took the initiative and commissioned New York City-based transportation consultant Sam Schwartz - president and CEO of Sam Schwartz Engineering LLC - to develop solutions to unclog the Windsor-Detroit crossing and divert truck traffic from city streets.

Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis

Schwartz, who coined the term gridlock, is sometimes referred to as Gridlock Sam The report, which city council received in January, has won endorsements from numerous industry groups as well as the unanimous support of council.

The challenge now, however, is implementing the recommendations.

"Basically, what needs to happen is there needs to be buy-in at the federal level and recognition at the federal level that we can no longer delay implementing improvements down here," Francis says.

The Schwartz report says Windsor does not have time to wait. The Ambassador Bridge is operating at 78- per-cent capacity for commercial trucks and 95-per-cent capacity for passenger cars, according to a 2004 report by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. Truck traffic is expected to more than double over the next 30 years.

More than 20 million cars, trucks and buses pass through Windsor every year, Transport Canada says.

Another problem is that Highway 401 ends 11 kilometres from the river, forcing trucks to navigate residential neighbourhoods to reach the Ambassador Bridge.

Schwartz's report recommends building a new bridge west of the existing Ambassador Bridge that would link industrial areas of Windsor and Detroit. It also recommends a controlled-access truck route to the bridge from Highway 401 and a multi-modal centre at the airport to link air, rail and highway transportation.

But it won't come cheap. The bridge itself will cost an estimated $500 million, likely split between Canada and the United States. And it would take at least a decade to build.

Schwartz's report recommends a number of shorter-term initiatives on the Windsor side to reduce traffic, pollution and noise. The plans, which include consolidating rail infrastructure and enhancing ferry service, would likely cost about $1 billion, Francis says.

The cost of doing nothing, however, is even greater than the cost of implementing the plan, Francis says.

Len Crispino, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, says all Canadians should care about this issue

Len Crispino, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, says that anything that hinders the flow of trade across the border has repercussions throughout Ontario and the rest of the country.

"Border crossings have really become what we've called the choke points of our economy," he says. A chamber report released last summer says border delays cost Ontario more than $5.25 billion each year.

The Schwartz report also recommends consolidating half a dozen existing rail lines and railyards that are scattered throughout Windsor, building a new rail tunnel under the Detroit River to accommodate double-decker trains and eliminating more than 100 public rail crossings in the City of Windsor and Essex and Kent counties.

An existing truck ferry transports 50 to 80 vehicles a day across the Detroit River. By adding a second barge and tug and increasing the hours of operation, the report says, the service could accommodate 1,000 trucks per day and would take less than a year to implement.

Four new customs stations on the U.S. side opened last summer, improving waiting times at the Ambassador Bridge. Additional Canada-bound booths could speed up flow even further, the report says.

Rerouting long-haul trucks to the Blue Water International Bridge that links Sarnia and Port Huron also could significantly reduce commercial traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, the report says.

While both crossings have the same number of lanes, Windsor attracts double the number of trucks - 350 per hour at peak times. The Schwartz report cites studies showing that 30 per cent of the trucks currently using the Ambassador Bridge each weekday could use the Blue Water Bridge without significantly more travel time.

Schwartz's report has been welcomed by dozens of groups, including the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA), the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council and the Windsor and District Chamber of Commerce. Even the Windsor-Tecumseh Green Party backed the plan, praising recommendations for the multi-modal spur and a new passenger rail station "For us the key issues were provision of a freeway-to-freeway access to the border, more separation of cars and trucks, and more choice in terms of border crossings," OTA president David Bradley said in a news release. "The plan attempts to address all of these objectives."

Crispino says anything that speeds up the crossing will benefit the provincial economy and the economy of Canada as a whole. "It's not just an issue in border towns. There are companies now that are facing penalties because they can't get some of those goods to the market on time."

With cross-border trade increases of about 10 per cent annually, the problems will be compounded without short-term and longer-term action, Crispino says. He adds that he is optimistic the provincial government is taking the issue more seriously and that it's on Premier Dalton McGuinty's personal agenda.

"It's got to be a concerted effort," Crispino says, "and I think we need the governments of both Canada and the United States working along with the private sector."

In 2004, Ottawa and Queen's Park committed a total of $300 million to Windsor Gateway improvements to improve road safety and speed up the flow of cross-border traffic.

Several projects are under way, including improvements to the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Plaza. An environmental assessment has been launched to examine the location of a new bridge and Transport Canada has said it will give careful consideration to recommendations in the Schwartz report.

With changes at all three levels of governments over the past two years, Francis says a new working relationship has developed.

With a detailed, well-engineered plan to show the way he believes the gridlock can be unlocked.

"You have community buy in, you have industry buy in, you have all the third-party support that never existed and everybody's saying the same thing - let's get some action, let's implement improvements down here," Francis says.

(Julie Stauffer can be reached at stauffer@businessedge.ca)