MDOT issues Request for Proposal of Interest in Detroit-Windsor border crossing system
Contact:
Bill Shreck, Director of Communications, 517-335-3084
Agency:
Transportation
January 27, 2010 -- The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is asking individual firms and teams to respond to a Request for Proposal of Interest in partnering on the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) project.
The Request for Proposal of Interest follows a series of informal interviews that MDOT and Transport Canada, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, conducted with major developers, contractors and lenders who had previously been involved in similar large privately-financed transportation infrastructure projects. This step involves a solicitation of market interest in the project that would provide the Michigan Legislature and the Canadian government with more information to formulate governmental policy and develop a procurement and transaction schedule. The deadline for individual firms or teams to submit responses to the Request for Proposal of Interest is March 17.
Responses will be used by MDOT in a required report to the Michigan Legislature that MDOT will submit by May 1. State Transportation Director Kirk T. Steudle says the stage is being set to form a public-private partnership that will move the DRIC project forward.
"At this point, we are considering a model that would incorporate some participation by the private sector in financing, design, construction, engineering and maintenance," Steudle said. "Although we have not yet finalized what that model will eventually look like, we know there are a number of teams out there eagerly anticipating the start of work on this historic project that will create jobs and keep international trade flowing across the border as efficiently as possible."
According to MDOT, preliminary feedback indicates there is extensive interest and experience in the market for projects of this type and that, aside from some geotechnical engineering issues, there are no substantial construction complexities involved. Given the anticipated tolled nature of the border crossing, MDOT says there are several public-private partnership models ranging from real tolls to availability payments that could be applied to the DRIC under current market conditions.
The Record of Decision for the DRIC, issued Jan. 14, 2009, by the FHWA, provides environmental clearance for right of way acquisition and construction planning for the proposed new bridge. MDOT and Transport Canada, in close coordination with the FHWA and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, are jointly pursuing the development of the DRIC.
The proposed project is an end-to-end solution that includes the I-75 interchange and U.S. inspection plaza in Detroit; a new bridge over the Detroit River; and the Canadian plaza in Windsor, Ontario. The Canadian access road, known as The Windsor-Essex Parkway, will extend Highway 401 in Windsor to the new bridge, and is an integral part of the proposed end-to-end solution. The Windsor-Essex Parkway is under separate procurement and will not be part of the plaza-bridge procurement.
More information about the DRIC and the Request for Proposal of Interest is available on the Border Transportation Partnership Web site at www.partnershipborderstudy.com.
MDOT says: Remember - in Ice and Snow, Take it Slow!
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