“Down by the River” The Ambassador Bridge (shown in this photo) stretches from Detroit, MI to Windsor, Ontario (CANADA). It’s one of two options for crossing the Detroit River into Canada, with a second bridge currently being built. To the best of my recollection, despite traveling from Detroit to Windsor hundreds of times, I have never been on this bridge. My family and friends and I always used the Windsor Tunnel to cross. And even though I remember times driving through the tunnel and seeing water seeping into the cracks, I always chose the tunnel over the bridge. I’m not normally afraid of bridges, or heights, I’ve crossed the Mackinac quite a few times ~ but there’s something about this one that scares the *?!@ out of me. So my joke has always been, if you want to cross from Detroit to Windsor, you’ve got to choose your phobia to avoid: whether it be claustrophobia going through the tunnel, or acrophobia crossing the bridge. 😜 Me, I’ve always been afraid of drowning, so… Recently the bridge has been making world-wide news for a convoy of truckers on the Canadian side blocking access in protest of Canadian Covid measures. But this isn’t the first time (in my memory) that the bridge has been the site of angst for truckers based on politics. The first was when Manny Maroun, OWNER of the Ambassador Bridge (now deceased, but the I believe the family still owns it) had built illegal gas stations and gift shops, then had roads built to divert traffic to these places. Truck drivers were being taken miles out of their way in order to cross the bridge: “$1.2 billion worth of goods cross the U.S.-Canada border each day at all of Michigan's border points, with a quarter of that going across the Ambassador Bridge”. (Jeff Bennett; Wall Street Journal; Jan. 10, 2011) Maroun’s company, Detroit International Bridge Company, was court-ordered to rebuild the on-ramps to original MDOT specs that made the bridge easily accessible from I-75 and I-96. The bridge has a fascinating history, and I would greatly encourage anyone with a passion for Detroit history especially to check it out. 📸x Christina / @picturedetroit SHOT: October 19, 2021 (at Detroit, Michigan) https://www.instagram.com/p/CaFcFRyFjx5/?utm_medium=tumblr
