Originally Posted by
professorscott
Two facts.
First of all, Mr. Moroun's second bridge cannot be built because the Government of Ontario will never approve it. This has been stated, publicly and often, by Ontario officials. So all the money he spent on the approaches on the Detroit side were an expensive fantasy and a waste of time.
Second of all, nearly every toll bridge and toll road in North America is successful, by which I mean the tolls are sufficient to be able to pay off the construction bonds over time, and then sufficient to pay for maintenance and upkeep. There are, I believe, four border crossings [[and for sure at least three) in the Buffalo, NY area; all are bridges, all are tolled, and none cost the State of New York or the Province of Ontario any money. Buffalo and Fort Erie are much smaller towns than Detroit and Windsor. Detroit, at the present time, has two border crossings.
Not only do toll bridges and toll roads pay their own costs, they are the ONLY form of transportation infrastructure which do so.
The only reason Mr. Moroun's specious arguments hold any weight with the public is that he has sufficient resources to produce television advertisements and buy air time for these advertisements, and we are all conditioned to believe the bullshit that comes out of our television speakers.