Detroit-Canada bridges increasingly drawn into election-year politics – Detroit Free Press

A new political ad that debuted this week features the Gordie Howe International Bridge, spotlighting the politics surrounding the opening of the $4.7 billion connection between the United States and Canada.
The 60-second online ad targets Mike Rogers, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate. It accuses him of “trying to stop” the new bridge from opening. More significantly, however, the spot draws North America’s busiest crossing deeper into partisan political discourse.
Even the Vice President was talking about the new bridge while in Auburn Hills on Wednesday, March 18, turning a question he was asked about whether it would open on schedule into a jab at Canada, accusing it “taking advantage” of the United States.
The Democratic attack ad comes less than a week after the new bridge authority announced toll rates set for spring that would deeply undercut what the privately held Ambassador Bridge is now charging.
Last month, President Donald Trump threatened to block the opening of the new bridge, jointly owned by Michigan and Canada. Weeks before that, Matthew Moroun, whose family owns the bridge, contributed $1 million to the Make America Great Again super PAC.
“They have been charging what economists call ‘monopoly rents,'” Michael Greiner, an associate professor of management, said about the Ambassador Bridge’s tolls, calling the bridge a “cash cow” — an asset generating high-profit margins with minimal investment — for its owners.
More: Gordie Howe bridge tolls announced, a sign it soon could open
The Free Press left a message with the Ambassador Bridge.
The Ambassador Bridge, which opened in 1929, carries about 25% of all merchandise traded between the United States and Canada. The new bridge opening, however, could significantly diminish that and the revenues it collects.
The Gordie Howe’s toll rates — which were announced March 11, 2026 — are not quite half of those of the Ambassador Bridge and are expected to add pressure to open the new bridge soon and heighten toll competition.
The one-way toll for passenger vehicles on the Gordie Howe will be: $5.75 in U.S. dollars. With a 25% discount for electronic pass holders, that’s $4.35. For commercial trucks, the toll per axle is: $8.75; discounted it is $6.90.
The rates are closer to the tolls for the Blue Water Bridge, a government-owned twin-span across the St. Clair River that links Port Huron to Canada. The toll, which was raised in December, is $5 for passenger vehicles and $5.25 per axle for trucks.
The Ambassador Bridge, which also raised its tolls at the start of this year, charges $10 for automobiles, buses and motorcycles, $20 for vehicles with trailers, and $20 per axle for commercial vehicles, $15 with its pass discount.
No specific date has been set for the bridge’s opening.
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, a nonprofit Canadian Crown corporation, set the rates based on a variety of financial factors independent of what other crossings might charge.
On Saturday, March 14, the Free Press reported on the Moroun family’s political contributions over many years and noted that the new bridge, once open, “will compete with — if not imperil — the future” of the Ambassador Bridge.
More: The Morouns wanted to stop a bridge. They gave both parties millions.
Professor Greiner speculated that the financial benefits of having just one bridge from Detroit to Canada open for the Moroun family may be what is driving Trump’s threat to prevent the new bridge from opening.
The professor also suggested that cheaper tolls — especially as travelers and businesses from both nations face an increase in gasoline and diesel prices — may force Trump to relent on blocking an opening.
Greiner said that while more competition wouldn’t necessarily spark a price war, it likely would help reset the Ambassador Bridge’s toll rates and perhaps even those of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, too.
The tunnel, opened in 1930, is jointly owned by the cities of Detroit and Windsor.
Toll rates for the tunnel, which goes under the Detroit River, also went up this year. They now are $9 for automobiles, $14 for buses, and $10 for two axles, $13 for three, $19 for 4-6, $33 for 7-9, and $44 for 10 or more. Motorcycles are not allowed.
In Greiner’s view, the announced rates have increased price pressure on other international crossings to lower tolls. The Ambassador Bridge, he said, might even be able to leverage its private ownership to offer an entirely different toll-collection approach.
One possibility, the professor said, is that it could use a “surge pricing” or dynamic toll model, a strategy that ride-sharing businesses use, in which prices go up and down depending on supply and demand.
Another option, he said, might be to charge commercial companies a set fee over a certain period, rather than charging a toll for each vehicle it sends over the bridge. This way, it essentially locks a trucking company into using that bridge exclusively.
The Ambassador Bridge has said little about its plans, but it has posted an undated, public letter on the bridge’s website in which Dan Stamper, the bridge company’s president, thanks customers.
He also said that more than $100 million has been invested in the bridge for upgrades in the last five years and acknowledged that “as a family-owned company, we have historically been very private,” but added, “we are working to change that.”
In the meantime, the new political ad, titled “A Bridge Too Far,” that began running Monday also could ratchet the pressure on politicians opposed to opening the new bridge. And also likely increases the political tension surrounding it.
Detroit MetroTimes reported Monday, March 16, on the ad.
The negative ad is aimed at Rogers, ties the candidate to Trump and implies that he is against the business opportunities and jobs the bridge might create. It also pointed out that the Moroun family had been a donor.
A former U.S. Congressman, Rogers lost to U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Michigan, in 2024. In that race, he framed himself as a pro-business candidate who had “fought to reduce burdensome regulations.” He’s again running on economic issues and faces a competitive race.
The leading Democratic contenders in the Senate race now are U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former Wayne County public health official Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.
Alyssa Brouillet, Rogers’ communications director, pushed back on the ad, telling the Free Press in a statement that the “Gordie Howe Bridge will open” and the candidate “supports that.”
The campaign also pointed out that Rogers has not received direct donations from the Moroun family in more than a decade, and Moroun has not donated to either of his Senate campaigns.
Independent of the politics, however, Greiner said he believes that when the new bridge opens, there is a strong likelihood it will divert traffic away from the old bridge onto the new one.
And to entice some of that bridge traffic back, the professor said, it is likely that the Ambassador Bridge — and perhaps the tunnel — will “be forced to lower its prices in response.”
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com

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