DETROIT – The 54-page “Crossing Agreement” that sets up the authority overseeing the construction of the new bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, goes to great pains to emphasize that Michigan will bear no costs for the project.

One example is Article X.

“The Michigan Parties shall not be required to fund any International Crossing Costs, Michigan Interchange Costs, US Federal Plaza Costs, Crossing Authority Costs, or International Authority Costs,” the agreement says.

And even as Canada picks up Michigan’s $550 million portion of the cost, the deal also seeks relative parity between the two sides.

The International Authority that will choose what entity designs, builds and operates the bridge will have three appointees each from Canada and Michigan. For the first five years, the chair of the authority will be one of the Canadians. The second five years, someone from Michigan will chair the authority with the chair’s position rotating alternately every five years.

Besides calling meetings, the chair also will appoint the auditor of the authority.

The authority will meet in Detroit or Windsor, Ontario. Meetings will be open to the public.

A procedure is set up to resolve any 3-3 votes through binding arbitration. Each side will name two designated arbitrators and those four will select three neutral arbitrators. Decisions of the arbitration panel are final and the agreement specifies the losing side cannot appeal in any court.

All tolls will be collected on the Canadian side.

The “Crossing Agreement” would last 100 years, and the agreement with the concessionaire would last 40-50 years.

And the agreement seeks to address the call from Detroit officials that the area where the bridge would land benefit from the project.

Among other factors, bids will be judged on how they would plan to hire residents of the U.S. and Canada to work on the project as well as how community stakeholders are involved in the project as well as “the manner in which bidders plan to work with local institutes of higher learning, unions and others; and the manner in which job training and local job development will be encouraged.”

U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit) said he sees the project as outstanding overall, but he will need to monitor how the community benefits piece plays out.

“The requests for proposals states that the contractor can be selected based on their score and if they have a community benefits plan in that, that would give them a higher score, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that a plan that benefits the community would be part of the contractors’ proposal because they could be rated higher in some other areas,” he said. “So no, there’s no guarantee in my opinion that the community would directly benefit from this bridge. I believe the intent is there, the good will is there, but there’s no requirement.”

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