If as significant portion of each of these two bridges is in Mexico, who owns that half of the bridge? Who collects the tolls that allow someone to enter the bridge on the Mexican side?
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We built a bridge over the little creek that runs along through the back of the property. Cats, dogs, squirrels, raccoons, deer and skunks are known to use it, especially at high water.
We have yet to figure how to charge a toll...oh well.
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Not sure what the point is, here...
On the US/Mexico border, a private-sector entity gets toll money, as profit...
On the NY/NJ border, a public-sector entity gets toll money - and does everything with that money except improve cross-river citizen transportation capacity and quality...
No rail tunnel is less than 100 years old...
The GW bridge (upper deck) and the Holland Tunnel are 90 years old...
The first tube of the Lincoln Tunnel is 80 years old...
The incremental adds of the GW lower deck and second and third LT tubes are 60 years old...Even these "recent" additions wouldn't have been possible, if planning for them hadn't been factored into the original designs...
All - long before Christie put a couple of traffic cones out and stopped construction of a tunnel with a ridiculously-inefficient-by-design NYC terminus...
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El Chapo’s tunnels were private too and made him a millionaire, yet he’s in jail. Go figure.
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The future for American highways is tolls everywhere, all the time. The creation and widespread use of transponders like EZ Pass system makes this possible without delaying traffic. and allows the government to pick your pocket everywhere you go. Also, because we have one political party that never stops shouting, "No new taxes" and "No tax increases", the aging infrastructure of the country would be allowed to turn into an absolute dangerous mess. So, we'd have wonderful new self driving vehicles bouncing over rough, collapsing roads. Would that make any sense?
The idea of privately owned bridges should be completely foreign in a rich democracy like ours. For one thing, with private ownership there is little or no recourse to whatever level the owner chooses to charge. This is the very reason that anti-trust laws were imposed on railroads, to stop one business from taking all the profits from another. These bridges should be taken over by government entities (brought) and operated as public utilities. Then, it wouldn't matter how many vehicles cross with or without NAFTA.
These guys voted for Trump? They seem to be getting what they deserve.
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The average Texan spends $8,000 - $9,000 or more on food/groceries per year. The supermarkets in San Antonio are stocked heavily with produce from Mexico. Produce prices have historically been low since NAFTA. I fully expect food prices to rise by $1,800 to $2,000 per year if Trump succeeds. This effectively imposes a tax increase on consumers that many already can ill-afford.
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In the NAFTA renegotiation let us include provisions for some modicum of wage parity between workers in Mexico and the United States. Wage parity mitigates to a large extent illegal immigration,it also serves as a deterrent for companies to outsource manufacturing jobs from the United States to Mexico. Another benefit of wage parity would be that Mexican workers would have more money to buy American made goods produced here. The naysayers will say we can't do that but in fact we can by denying access to the American marketplace for any goods made or produced in a non compliant fashion.
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An additional concern, maybe not contemplated in the ridiculously shallow "America First" mindset, is that if America uses its leverage and markets and general clout to outmaneuver its neighbors, to impoverish its neighbors, the result will be neighbors that resent America and seek to undermine it. In that sense, a more thoughtful approach to achieving American greatness would be to empower its neighbors so as to create life experiences for its citizens that, at least in terms of economic choices, are roughly equal to our own. In other words, raise the tide and lift us all. Even if that means we have to give a little to equalize a relationship, America will benefit in the long run.
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How is Mexico in its entirety less empowered than the U. S. or any other nation? What is Mexico NOT empowered to do that the U. S. can?
I know there are a lot of comments, but private bridge and road ownership across the county is not uncommon. Fewer across the border, but Detroit has a privately owned bridge to Canada.
Tolls are not out of line for trucks on toll bridges across US.much different from a car. Customs are at the border. Too bad story did not mention this.
Also trump is proposing more private and private public partnerships, especially for bridges, so expect more tolls.
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I agree with other posters about this raising a lot of questions. Who inspects the cargo if it is inspected at all? Or is part of the reason these guys are able to charge so much that there is a lot of smuggling going occurring over these bridges?
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There are some really great photos accompanying this piece.
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The Ambassador Bridge sees 25% of Canadian / US trade pass over it and is privately owned, as mentioned by others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassador_Bridge
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The "you are entering to Mexico" sign reminds me of all the intentionally bad English grammar I saw used in Mexico. A mexican confessed to me that intentionally bad english is a source of much hilarity to Mexicans. It's a little jab to Americans.
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Does anyone have a bridge they wanna sell?
Sounds like a tidy business...
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I like the name New Progresso as a town. Donald should listen to Mr. Vale. Doing away with NAFTA a reptilian brain decision by Donald. Mexicans are not stupid, Donald. Its products will go somewhere else than north.
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Did the bridge owner vote for Trump and not hear the cries to "build that Wall"? Another Trump supporter voting against their self-interest.
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Ah yes, my chickadee - America at it's worst or best.
Let them come in from Mexico, and then charge bejusus from them.
America at its' best!
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The most important and telling part of this article is the fact that when the US starts withdrawing from international trade agreements, our trading partners start looking elsewhere. When we withdrew from the TPP . the other partners in that agreement went ahead without us, so they will trade with each other , but not with us. If we withdraw from NAFTA, Canada and Mexico will buy and sell elsewhere. Every time we withdraw from trade in Asia, the Chinese step in and fill the gap. The same is now true of our North American trading partners. Under NAFTA, manufacturing in North America became integrated to the point where US manufacturers rely on parts to cross international borders several times before they become a finished product. Withdrawing will not only hurt the people on the borders, it will hurt everyone. It remains to be seen how far the Trump administration will continue with this folly, but it could be disastrous.
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How are private crossings, bridges and tolls allowed under a modern free trade agreement, or any modern cross-border arrangement for that matter? Especially in the US. It’s bizarrely medieval. Private tolls imposed as rights of the nobility were the sort of thing the French Revolution abolished! I’m amazed that such a situation could exist in the 21stC United States . . .
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There is a privately owned bridge from Detroit into Canada as well. Not sure if there are others crossing a border.
Within the US, there are more than 2,000 privately owned bridges and toll roads, at least when I goggled it. Private and public-private ownership of bridges is on President Trump’s agenda as well.
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It was an effective way to maintain Jim Crow economics and anti-black terror in the rural South.
The local police, depending on the particular rules created by the politically powerful AngloSaxon families in their territory, would demand a cash bribe ( or more) from poor, non- white people and children who had the temerity to use ( walk on) public roads, sidewalks, and bridges and railroad tracks.
African-Americans who were related by blood to the locally powerful families and/or worked for them and their businesses were usually exempt from this predatory policing practice.
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Why does this sound so familiar? Is it really possible that these bridges might be for sale. Over the years (I am very old), I have heard over and over "if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you"...........are the bridges finally for sale??????
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Who checks these trucks for drugs, illegals, etc. The bridge owners should make facilities for these inspections. Now if we are exporting crops in importing them even with a deficit that would be fine with me. Not that many jobs involved.
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There is a customs station at each bridge.
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There is US Customs and Immigration on the US side.
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"Illegals"? Why stop there? Call them "subhumans" if that's what you mean. Your Trump would. Make him proud.
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These are not the only privately owned bridges to cross our border, look to the north and the bridge from Detroit to Windsor among others.
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Unfortunately a lot of people and shallow politiicans dont understand the complexities of trade. It is not as simple as "do I export more than I import" and "are our jobs going overseas". A lot of imports can be inputs into production that then gets exported or consumed domestically and when industries leave one country for another, it usually means the country losing the industries is shifting to higher productivity work. Imports = bad is a good political soundbite but little more. Of course there are winners and losers from trade...and that is where we need policies to come in, how do you retrain and help people to access the new jobs not stick around for the old ones lost? It's funny how you dont hear from Trump how he is going to compensate the losers in the US from all of his policies, of which there will be many...and politicians in general refuse to be honest and speak like this...and a lot of working people remain none the wiser...
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Sure it is complex, but the end is simple. We in the US trade jobs for cheap stuff, if you think that is good then continue it, if not change it. Now there are benefits of keeping folks in say Haiti which tourism trade deficit might be justified. I demand jobs that our consumption supports or others buying goods from the US.
Not sure I understand the point of this article other than the fact that any means of transportation across international border should not be privately owned no matter how big of a Libertarian you are.
In any case with any treaty or agreement there are winners and losers but that is not the point. These agreements should be done or cancelled if that is the right thing to do.
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Why should bridges not be privately owned? Now they would need regulation, and if their investors lose money due to changes that is the risk of business.
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I am fascinated to learn how these bridges came to be. Who paid for the initial construction? How was it that private international bridges came to be? Who pays for the upkeep now? And are our tax dollars paying for the customs and security at each now while these men profit?
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I agree completely. NYT, please rewrite the article with these excellent (and obvious) questions answered, and then re-submit it.
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Google it. The bridge owners paid for the bridges and pay for all upkeep. No citizens tax dollars are involved. The state has agents there that collect taxes on all the liquor that crosses.
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The Republicans used to understand the free market, but now they have lost it.
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Privately owned roads and bridges...right out of feudalism...I guess humanity hasn't made that much progress after all.
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So publicly owned toll roads are fine???
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Why not? Its just capitalism at work. It may smell but it is what makes the world go around.
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One must be quite "connected" to possess your very own bridge from the USA to Mexico, under NAFTA rules and regulations.
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I'm sure we can count on these two profit driven owners to rigidly enforce immigration and drug trafficking laws no matter how much they are offered in bribes by the criminals who traffic in those arenas.
What madness. It would be great if Trump start building his wall right at these two bridges (and then it ends right there).
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well... in the article it actually states that a wall already goes through one of the properties with the bridges and all the guy has to do it punch in a code and it opens a door right into Mexico.
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$4million a year seems to be about the right cost for inflicting a protectionist, racist government on the rest of us. At least his taxes will go down.
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America beware! Canada is seeking closer ties to Asia. The USA sells $400 Billion to Canada, its biggest customer!
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"Private" bridges across an international border????????????? How is security handled? Who -- Owner/US Government -- pays for what? WHAT ARE WE THINKING? Ingrid Wiegand
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Doesn't the Commerce Clause regulate Commerce? The federal government has jurisdiction over the interstate transport of goods and services on land and navigable waters. Doesn't it?
p.s.: air-conditioned dog houses? Probably looks profligate to reasonable people.
I'm at a loss to understand how any private individual owns any transport venue across an international border ?
Having said that, If we are truly to have a fair and equitable trade agreement across 3 countries, then there has to be a level playing field. Having a bottleneck that has extra cots associated with it goes against that spirit of intention.
Free passage means free ~ not $30 per crossing.
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I'm at a loss to understand how any private individual owns any transport venue across an international border ?
Having said that, If we are truly to have a fair and equitable trade agreement across 3 countries, then there has to be a level playing field. Having a bottleneck that has extra cots associated with it goes against that spirit of intention.
Free passage means free ~ not $30 per crossing.
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How can I buy one of these wonderful bridges? I want one to Russia, since the trumpeters are always coming and going!
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That's shame that two bridges might have close but when NAFTA was negotiated it was negotiated in secret and passed through Congress with no input from interested parties except the corporations who will benefit from a tax "reform" meant to pay them off for their "successes". These successes included the flood of American corporations who could now produce in Mexico, use Mexican pay scales and never have to worry about the government. NAFTA cost this country millions of jobs and now contributes to the stagnant wages we're experiencing due to labor competition with every poor country in the world. We are paying for this in more ways than one today. The one good thing about all this is that it's capitalism at its very best!
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The bridges won't close - they simply will not remain as lucrative to their owners. Pity the poor owners.
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Yes except for the pity, they invested and sometimes things don't work out. I bet they will be fine.
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I fail to see the logic in voting for Trump if your business is 100% dependent on NAFTA trade with Mexico. I'm not a big fan of Trump, but I give him credit, no one can deny he was very clear on his opinion of NAFTA.
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Perhaps your "logic" is that you are more concerned with the benefits for US citizens than your selfish interests?
This story makes a good case for why we should have elected an adult to serve as POTUS. An ideology that sounds good in the abstract can bite you in the back side when put to practice. Had the Sams seen the election of Hillary they may have hated the perspectives as promulgated by the right wing bloggers and seethed that she wasn't being arrested for the alleged crimes the right wing blogosphere claims she committed. (never mind conservative DAs, on examining her, have declined to file any charges. That's a clue to the validity of the claims of Trump and his rabble yelling "lock her up.") All that and if Clinton were president the operation of the Sams' bridges would not be under threat and their other businesses would also be safe, to say nothing about the fact we, as a nation, wouldn't be busy disengaging ourselves from the world stage as we cede world leadership to China and others.
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It's a small price to pay. Why engage in a race to the bottom?
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What adult was president when their bridges were built, not our current one. World leadership is expensive and over rated, we need to lead the world in looking out for our citizens, that is what is important.
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Caveat emptor Trump voters. Next up will be the rationalizations and excuses from Trump voters that then we’d only need another 18-24 to retool and refurbish all the factories that were lost to NAFTA, so give President Joffrey just some more time. We need a time machine to go back to 1979 and redo Carters campaign so he would have won. It would have saved us and the world a lot of heartache and debt.
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I couldn't go to sleep thinking of poor Mr. Sparks who voted against trade but now wants it to be left alone.
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Maybe those Texan bridge owners will stop voting Republican now that their incomes are threatened by Trump's anti-NAFTA lunacy.
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Privately owned bridges between two countries should not exist and, in fact, should be illegal.
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Why? Please explain.
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Why, Melinda. You offer no reason.
Many bridges started out as private until the spans got too big for any but government to build.
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Why? It's their land. And that $30 dollar fee is a huge savings over the extra fuel and time to use crossings further away. Having said that I do think these two men are a special kind of fool for voting an isolationist into office when they on international trade for their livelihood. The epitome of a trump voter!
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I continue to object to the characterization of expressions like Trump's "economic instincts" that bestow far more credit than he deserves and actually implies he has some vision. He thinks and acts in first sentences. He has no follow up. He has no plan, he doesn't plan (except for revenge), he only reacts. His "instincts," if this is even the right word, is to destroy.
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You judge by Tweets. For an example of policy and process see the judges that are being appointed, judges that will judge not make laws. Next perhaps we will impeach some current idiotic judges to get rid of them.
He's running on nothing but instinct these days.
It's odd, to say the least, to see a loss of executive function in a chief executive.
There should be no 'private' border crossings, period. All border crossings should be controlled and managed by the government for the benefit and security of ALL it's citizens.
If ever there was a rationale for eminent domain this is it. If national security is as important as the GOP wants everyone to believe, let the gov't seize 5 miles along the border, for the length of the border and control it centrally.
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Crossing into the US still requires people to pass through customs. What's private is the bridge, the actual crossing. But crossing into the US is still controlled by the government.
The article makes this clear.
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That last "if" is not correct. Should be "if illegal border crossings from Mexico are as big a threat to national security...".
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I know the issues on the Mexican border and the Canadian border are radically different but there are private bridges here as well. I live 100 yards from the Canadian border, a river here. The bridge crossing to Fort Frances Ontario is a privately owned bridge owned jointly by two paper/hydro corporations, one on each side of the border. Crossing by foot, bike and car takes second precedence to the commercial traffic. My guess is these corporations have more pull than individuals and will be ok under a NAFTA negotiation.
3
Few American presidents nor their counterparts in Canada and elsewhere understand the intricacies of trade deals. That's why they have an army of analysts and advisors who do. The dangerous difference with Trump is his delusions that handling geopolitics is the same as running a private sector business. It is not.
A seasoned politician knows he or she cannot keep all the promises doled out during a campaign and they make those adjustments once in office with a give and take policy. Trump is oblivious to reality since he hasn't lived in the real world for most of his rise in the business world. Like a politician, he's had an army of advisors and, most importantly in the crucial years, Ivana Trump to cobble together the details of his projects. Trump's skills are confined to self promotion and cheating contractors. We must admit it has led to great wealth but the government of all Americans is not a building project. Those are stark facts available to anyone who cares to look back but not a healthy approach to MAGA in the long run.
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"The dangerous difference with Trump" is not just his delusions regarding geopolitics, but his delusions regarding himself. He claims to be smart, and a deal-maker, and the best president ever. This self-deluded self-promoting fool has no internal governor to warn him that he's treading on treacherous ground, but his pride makes it impossible for him to recognize that.
If only his own business "empire" -- mostly his name -- were at stake, that would make for a mildly interesting soap opera. As it is, this presidency is unfolding more as a tragedy than a comedy.
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Jacob, no. A seasoned politician should NOT make campaign promises that can't be kept.
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It is only not the "same" because people like you think it is not. It should be the same, use process, use your leverage to get a good deal, protect our citizens rather than other's.
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Scary to think a decision about what might help Americans would be influenced by TWO! extraordinarily wealthy men, whose life styles wouldn't change if the bridges were closed. Sad! That's why the most important thing America must do is limit campaign donations to $1,000 per family and/or corporations.
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American economic decisions have not only been influenced, they have been made by the wealthy men of this country since the country was founded. That's reality.
1
Campaign Finance Reforms- where the discussions and policy starts...
1
Well, Mr. Sparks. Haven't you figured out this pres*dent does not care a whit for you or the American people -- only for what evokes coverage from the sensationalists at Fox News, the tabloid that passes for a news channel . So good luck.
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Stupidity has consequences!
5
Curious about the border security for all these trucks.....and the licensing and insurance requirements for the drivers....
24
I live near a privately owned bridge on the US/Canadian border. While the bridge toll collection, road surface, bridge structure etc is all the responsibility of the bridge owner. Border security and customs enforcement is the responsibility of the US Border patrol and the Canadian equivalent. Both have large, gated security check points one must pass through, even if crossing on foot or bike.
3
Votes have consequences. Mr. Sparks voted for Trump so let him live with the consequences.
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This article raises a lot more questions than it answers. What are the arrangements between these private owners of critical infrastructure and the 2 governments? Who pays who, and how much for border patrol services, building the wall, maintenance, security (aside from the german shepherds)? How is Mr. Vale able to amass a monopoly board full of enterprises so quickly? With 60 acres why hasn't he built a private prison? Do these guys actually operate or are they paid royalties? The list goes on. Bridges are very expensive to engineer, build, maintain and operate, just painting one costs a fortune. There's a much deeper story here that is lost in this fluff piece.
96
This story was quite an eye opener. I had no idea there were "private" bridges that cross the border. You're quite right. This story raises more questions than it answers. I'd like to learn more about this type of arrangement
59
I couldn't agree more. I found myself underwhelmed by the implications this story suggested as relates to Nafta and much more intrigued about how these guys could "own" something as strategically and financially important as a border crossing. Felt a little like a mercenary opposing a peace settlement because it'd be bad for business.
32
I too would like to see an indepth article discussing these and other privately-owned crossings and how and why they continue to exist. I seem to recall reading an article about a private bridge between Michigan and Canada where a second, state-owned bridge was being built right alongside the first due to some dispute with the private owner.
3
For all the stories NYT has published on why NAFTA must be preserved as is, I am yet to see a single article on any potential benefits of re-negotiation.
It is impossible that a revisiting a deal cannot be fully detrimental to everyone involved. Reporting on this issue is likely biased, and I suspect favorably to Mexico, over our own interests.
13
Border towns in Mexico and the U.S. such as El Paso/Juarez and San Diego/Tijuana are inextricably linked, to the economic to the benefit of both. Millions of citizens every year cross the border back and forth doing business, attending school, and visiting relatives. Free trade is inevitable and profitable. If you don't understand this, there are many sources you can use to educate yourself.
2
“It is impossible that revisiting a deal cannot be fully detrimental to everyone involved”
Are you sure? It is my understanding that trade deals are not a “zero sum game” - i.e. in theory, trade agreements like NAFTA benefit all involved to some extent.
So if a mutually beneficial deal is torn up, then it seems very possible that “revisiting” NAFTA would be detrimental to everyone involved.
The tens of thousands of trucks that entered the US over those bridges since 1993 carrying goods manufactured under Third World wage and labor standards have cost hundreds of thousands of factory workers their jobs here in America. Our middle class is teetering on extinction. I’ve watched it happen here in the Ohio Valley as steel mills and other plants shuttered and moved to Mexico in search of $2.50 hour labor.
Illegal drugs are another thing that arrive in those trucks, as docu-dramas like Breaking Bad have illustrated. The incredible volume of meth and opiates flowing north across the border has destroyed entire cities and millions of families here in the US. Just google the DEA statistics.
Enough is enough.
34
The destruction of unions has more to do with the destruction of the middle class than anything else. Our corporate driven government doesn't want you to know that. They'd rather have you hate immigrants.
10
The quantity of drugs flowing north is abysmal. Yet, there is so little discussion about the major reason for this: U.S. demand for drugs. Americans may wring their hands over the drug supply and trafficking, yet until the demand ends, the supply and delivery, with its awful consequences, never will.
It is the American appetite for illegal drugs that causes our drug epidemics, not trucks that cross the border. Even if not one single truck crossed the border, that appetite would cause the drug trade to continue. Let's put the blame where it belongs.
5
Votes have consequences and sometimes they are very direct. Mr. Sparks voted for Trump so let him live with the consequences.
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