DETROIT – The chief economist for General Motors told senators that the Ambassador Bridge is currently meeting the company’s logistical needs, but that won’t be the case if traffic picks up as they expect it will in the next two to three years.

Mustafa Mohatarem said for the year, GM has made 150,000 truck shipments across the Ambassador Bridge. The company budgets two hours for those shipments to cross between the United States and Canada.

“We believe our sales will continue to grow and believe our cross-border shipments will continue to grow,” he said, noting GM also uses the Blue Water Bridge and crossings in Buffalo, New York to transport goods across the border.

GM not only supports the New International Trade Crossing because it believes in economies of scale for logistics, but also to provide duplication in the event the Ambassador Bridge was shut down, Mohatarem said.

The Senate Economic Development Committee continued testimony Tuesday on SB 410 and SB 411 , which set up a public-private partnership to build the crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

Most of the testimony came from residents of Detroit, many of whom urged lawmakers to be cautious about the promises of jobs the new bridge would create.

Minister Malik Shabazz, who represented several members of the New Black Panther Nation, said the Detroit casinos, regionalization of Cobo Hall and other state interventions have not benefited the residents of the city the way they were pitched.

“It seems like every time the state steps in to help us we don’t get help; we get fleeced,” he said, noting the new bridge will also last longer than anyone making the decision to build it now.

The Reverend Horace Sheffield III, executive director of the Detroit Association of Black Organizations, told lawmakers the state shouldn’t make a commitment to the bridge, which it could be on the hook for financially, at a time when the budgets of K-12 schools and local governments are being cut.

“It’s our money; spend it on us,” he said.

Proponents of the NITC say the state will have no financial obligation since Canada has offered to pay Michigan’s portion of the construction, which it would receive back through tolls.

Officials representing the Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 324 testified in support of the bills.

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