Survey: Majority of Windsor residents support Detroit River tunnel project (5/3/2003)

Sixty-two percent of Windsor, Ontario, residents favor the Detroit River Tunnel Partnership (DRTP) project, according to a telephone survey of 800 residents conducted April 28-30 by Canadian polling firm POLLARA.

A partnership between Canadian Pacific Railway and Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System subsidiary Borealis, DRTP proposes building a high-capacity rail tunnel under the Detroit River, converting an existing twin-tube rail tunnel into a two-way truck tunnel and building a dedicated truckway from Highway 401 in Windsor to Interstate 75 in Detroit.

"[DRTP] is the only project under consideration that adds capacity to this border crossing quickly, does it with 80 percent private funding and can be completed within five years," said Michael Sheahan, chief executive officer of DTRP, which sponsored the study. "It's completion means added capacity for trucks and rail carriers, greater security and much needed border-crossing competition."

Eighty-two percent of respondents favor a dedicated truck route and 69 percent believe infrastructure funds should be used to increase border capacity by creating an additional crossing.

Source: Progressive Railroading Daily News