WINDSOR, Ontario — The Canadian and Michigan governments announced in mid-June they will move ahead with a new international crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

“We shall launch a truly visionary project, one that will mean jobs and growth in both Canada and the United States,” said Stephen Harper, prime minister of Canada. “This bridge is such an important investment. The U.S. is Canada’s biggest customer by far. Canada is also America’s biggest market.”

“It’s a long time in coming,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. “It could not have happened without the extraordinary leadership of the government of Michigan and without the extraordinary leadership of the Prime Minister and his team.”

In his remarks, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said the bridge project across the Detroit River will be about trade, jobs and partnership. He said in Michigan, trade between the United States and Canada accounts for about $70 billion a year. He also said 8,000 trucks a day go back and forth between Detroit and Windsor.

“We view it on the Michigan side alone that it will create 10,000 jobs,” he said. “It’s time for a new crossing, because trade demands it, because it will create jobs and we can work on something exciting.”

Harper said the project will not cost Michigan taxpayers anything. Canada has agreed to pay Michigan’s share of the cost for the new bridge, which Canada expects to get back by collecting tolls. The tab is expected to be $550 million.

According to the governor’s office, the money Canada is putting up for Michigan’s share could be used as matching funds for federal road and highway aid for the state.

Recently, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) Director Keith Creagh put in his own plug for the new bridge. He said as the world population continues to explode, products and exports are going to have to double.

“This is a real opportunity to put Michiganders back to work,” Creagh said.

When asked about the possibility of a lawsuit by Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel Maroun to try to stop the new bridge, Creagh said much needs to be done before construction gets started. A presidential permit has to be obtained and other matters have to be taken care of; one or more lawsuits would just be part of the mix, he said.

The Maroun family, which has owned the Ambassador Bridge for 35 years, has always been against the new bridge since it would compete with their business. Maroun has proposed building his own second bridge right next to the aging Ambassador Bridge.

But the Canadian government and Michigan officials are opposed to that. One problem cited is a security issue: What would happen if one of the bridges were attacked? If they were too close together, such an event would endanger the second bridge, as well. The crossing proposed by Snyder would be further away from the current bridge.

Last year Snyder tried to get the Michigan legislature to sign onto a new bridge deal, but the effort failed. To get around the legislature Snyder entered into what’s called an inter-local agreement, which the governor has the right to do under the state constitution as well as a state law called the Urban Cooperation Act.

Creagh said the legislature was never really against the bridge. “They just wanted to make sure the taxpayer is held harmless,” he explained.

The state legislature has been working on ways to prevent the executive branch from spending any public money on the project at all, even apart from an actual tax.

Another potential problem for the project is a possible referendum this fall that would ask taxpayers to decide on the bridge project. But such a referendum may not stop it from going forward even if it were to pass.