Funds have finally arrived to rebuild the Canada Customs plaza at the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and federal Transport Minister John Baird were in the Sault, Sept. 2, to deliver $44 million from the Gateways and Border Crossings infrastructure fund.
The money will be used to expand and redesign the plaza including a new traffic building, inspection booths and lanes for commercial and private vehicles. The project will begin this fall and be completed by 2014.
“This bridge is the tangible link with our American neighbours and the pathway for friends, commerce and tourism,” said Sault MP Tony Martin in a statement.
The bridge is jointly owned and operated by the State of Michigan and the St. Mary's River Bridge Corporation, a subsidiary of the Federal Bridge Corporation.
“Our government believes that Sault Ste. Marie holds tremendous potential as a centre of expanding trade and commerce between Canada and the United States,” said Harper. “When completed, the new plaza will give the Canada Border Services Agency the facilities they need to keep Canadians safe and to keep travel and trade moving.”
The bridge, which connects northeastern Ontario to northern Michigan, is Canada's 10th-busiest border crossing handling 1.5 million passenger vehicles in 2008.
Conditions inside the existing 46-year-old Customs building had gotten so bad, Canada Border Services Agency officers had staged work disruptions in complaining about rodents and feces.
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