Originally Posted by
MikeyinBrooklyn
I think the younger Maroun is just acknowledging that in his lifetime, if not his dad's, the Ambassador will need replacing. It makes sense, ultimately, for all stakeholders to allow it to go forward, in addition to the Gordie Howe. Dropping the "asshole"-perceived behavior is part of a campaign to replace it.
The Ambassador is repairable, of course, but that isn't ideal. Fully repairing it [[replacing cables, corroded metal parts, resurfacing, painting, etc) would lead to both partial and full closures for several years. Additionally, once restored, the bridge lacks adequate width, which cannot be added to the current structure. The older Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges have additional lanes, levels, pedestrian/bike lanes and [[in the MB's case) train tracks. Those larger bridges can remain reasonably and substantially useful while maintenance occurs on some of their many parts or lanes. Not so for the Ambassador. Also, the lack of adequate width and shoulders makes emergency response to crashes, medical and police situations much slower and less effective than is ideal [[or up to code, for any major bridge in the last half century).
The reasons for keeping a second [[new) bridge are many.
1) For the Marouns: a new bridge will continue to generate substantial revenue. Less lucrative than without the Gordie Howe? Sure. But a smaller cash cow can still be profitable.
2) For commuters, commercial shippers, and leisure travellers: it will allow for there to be an alternative when there is significant traffic or an accident at either bridge; it will also allow for better paths depending on the trip. Traffic with Detroit or Windsor as the destination would find the Ambassador the faster, more direct route. People and products travelling through Detroit/Windsor would find the Gordie Howe the faster way to go.
3) For the Michigan/Ontario economies: two large, modern bridges will eliminate congestion as a hidden tax on commerce and travel. They also will provide more than adequate capacity for strong economic activity and growth for the next several decades.
4) Lastly, the reason we don't like to talk about: having two bridges allows us to have redundant capacity. Redundancy is extremely important if there were an awful accident or act of terrorism. Hopefully never an issue. But if either bridge were incapacitated for any significant length of time, it would be economically catastrophic for the entire region. The tunnel cannot accommodate trucks at all, and only a fraction of the car traffic.
Hopefully young Maroun can work, over the next several years, to getting a second new bridge constructed. I hope that the years of acrimony that Matty has played a major role in [[although I think his detractors have allowed their anti-Matty hatred to be all consuming, clouding sound judgment and preventing rational actions) are over.