A bridge too far - rich US family fights to control key route to Canada

Detroit

EVERY year, US$100 billion in trade passes back and forth between the United States and Canada here - roughly 16.5 per cent of the total annual trade between the two countries. And it all trundles across the traffic-impaired and slowly declining 86-year-old Ambassador Bridge.

The Ambassador's questionable condition - concrete chunks rained down upon the Canadian side last year - has trade experts concerned that a vital route could come to an unexpected halt. Lorry companies, meanwhile, decry delays that can make crossing the less than two-mile (three-km) bridge a four-hour hassle.