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The famous Ambassador Bridge is about to cut tolls by nearly 50 per cent as the aging border crossing between Ontario and Michigan prepares to face new competition amid declining cross-border traffic. The Ambassador Bridge has connected Windsor and Detroit for almost a century, but the aging bridge will soon face competition from the new Gordie Howe International Bridge — a direct link between Ontario's Highway 401 and Michigan's I-75 that will cut travel times and bypass both cities' busy downtowns. Between the new competing bridge expected to open this spring and the continued decline of Canada-U.S. trade and tourism, the bridge's operators have opted to cut tolls almost in half, in an apparent bid to keep the nearly 100-year-old crossing relevant. Starting this Sunday, April 19, the cheapest crossing toll for cars and motorcycles equipped with the Ambassador Bridge's Premier Pass will cost USD$5.50 (CAD $7.50), falling from the USD$10 (CAD$14) rate, while cash rates and vehicles not equipped with Premier Pass will remain at the current rate. The updated rates could be interpreted as a direct response to the recently announced toll rates for the Gordie Howe International Bridge. The new crossing, expected to open on a yet-to-be-announced date this spring , will charge just USD$4.35 (CAD$6) for vehicles using its pre-paid "Breakaway" membership program, or USD$5.75 (CAD$8) for vehicles not signed up to Breakaway. Previously ranked as the top trade crossing on the entire continent, the ongoing U.S.-Canada trade war and a decline in tourism have cut into the bottom line of border crossings all along the countries' approximately 8,900-kilometre frontier. The Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia overtook the Ambassador Bridge as the continent's busiest point for cross-border trade in 2025, and the latter's position as a major commercial trucking route is further threatened by the imminent opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge. It's a shift in traffic that, even before the current breakdown in Canada-U.S. relations, was treated as an existential threat by the Ambassador Bridge's former owner, late billionaire Manuel "Matty" Moroun. The Moroun family fought hard to thwart the Gordie Howe International Bridge on the basis that it deprived them of their "exclusive right" to basically print money on border crossings. After multiple lawsuits and failed bids to stop the project in its tracks, the Moroun family was ultimately unable to prevent its construction. With the Gordie Howe International Bridge's opening now imminent, the Ambassador Bridge's operators were seemingly left with no choice but to slash rates as their effective monopoly on trucking traffic will soon come to an end.
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