A spokesman for the Blue Water Bridge says it hasn't been a fun spring but, from a personal point of view, extending the border closure for another 30 days is the right decision.
Federal Bridge Corporation Director of Communications Todd Kealey made the comment in reaction to the Trudeau government's announcement Tuesday that the Canada-U.S. border will remain closed to non-essential travel until June 21, 2020.
Kealey said they're averaging 100 to 200 cars a day crossing the span into Port Huron, MI, since the restrictions were first implemented March 21.
He said last year on the Friday before Victoria Day they saw as many as 6,000 cars travel into the U.S.
"That was a really busy day, normally we'd see between 3,500 and 4,500, and compare that to this [past] Friday when we had 152 cars."
Kealey said truck traffic across the Blue Water Bridge into the U.S. is down about a third but the 1,238 commercial vehicles recorded Monday is still a pretty good traffic load.
He said the cars allow them to build up a reserve to do maintenance work but it's the truck traffic that really pays for the bridge.
"A lot of the resurfacing plans, for the next five years or something of that scale, those have to be revisited as to how much cash we have on hand to finance those construction projects," Kealey said. "But when it comes to keeping the lights on, and stopping the rust and plowing the snow and that kind of stuff, it's really not hurting us in any shape or form which I guess is a silver lining."
Kealey said they're watching to see if the automotive manufacturing resumes which could bring truck traffic back up another 15 or 20 per cent.
"So the question is are the movement of those parts going to be considered essential? I would guess yes but it's hard to say at this point, and when that would happen is also kind of an unknown," he said.
Kealey said the extension of the restrictions was no great surprise and he noted that if the pandemic situation were to improve faster than forecast the authorities may revisit the date and the schedule.
-With files from Colin Gowdy
