Windsor considers tolls on border approach

WINDSOR, Ont. (Jan. 7) — The spectre of toll roads has raised its head yet again, this time in an unlikely place: Windsor, Ont., gateway to Detroit, home to one end of Canada’s busiest border crossing, and the world’s busiest in terms of trade.

The City of Windsor is seriously considering a toll on trucks using Huron Church Road, the six-lane municipal street that links the end of Hwy. 401 with the Ambassador Bridge, which connects directly to the U.S. Interstate highway system. The road, about six kilometers long, carries some 7500 heavy trucks every day, half again that many on the busiest of days.

City officials object to footing the bill for maintenance of the road, reported to be $350,000 a year, according to an article in The Globe & Mail. They’re awaiting an internal feasibility study on applying tolls to truck traffic to recoup those costs.

If they go ahead — assuming no other higher government steps in to block the move — it would likely be the first municipal authority to do so.

The trucking industry, not surprisingly, is incensed. David Bradley, president of the Ontario Trucking Association, called the idea “repugnant” and “discriminatory.”

He questioned whether the city would have the legal authority to impose tolls, and said that tolling the road would only serve to slow down traffic, increasing congestion and leading to a disruption of international trade.

“Almost a third of all merchandise trade between Canada and the United States crosses the Ambassador Bridge by truck. The City of Windsor has been a major beneficiary of this commerce,” Bradley said. “All of the trucks and their drivers may not be domiciled in the city, but they spend a lot of money in Windsor.’

He said the imposition of a toll could cause truckers to look elsewhere to cross, perhaps to Sarnia-Port Huron and the Blue Water Bridge to the north in Sarnia, Ont.

Given the importance of the route, Bradley called on the federal and provincial governments to help fund repairs and maintenance.