U.S. Rep. Paul Mitchell leads a webinar in March 2020. | Mitchell's Facebook page
U.S. Rep. Paul Mitchell leads a webinar in March 2020. | Mitchell's Facebook page
The 10-year wait for Blue Water Bridge Plaza renovations is nearly over, as the project has been gifted a $25 million federal grant.
Port Huron’s Blue Water U.S. Customs Plaza is receiving the award from the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America, the Port Huron Times-Herald reported June 15.
Republican U.S. Rep Paul Mitchell announced the update earlier this month.
“As 10th District residents are well aware, expanding the customs plaza has been a long-time priority for the community and the state that unfortunately has sat idle for multiple administrations,” he said in a release from his office.
He said that the project development has been a top priority since he first began serving in Congress. Now, he’s ready for it to officially move forward.
“With this announcement from the Trump administration, I am hopeful that after waiting more than 10 years this project can finally be built to benefit our economy, transportation systems and national security,” he said in the release.
Mayor of Port Huron Pauline Repp told the Port Huron Times-Herald that she was not aware of the announcement until the paper contacted her for comment. She told the newspaper that she was happy the project could end sooner than later, she added that this isn’t the first time it has received funding and that the previous funding was used elsewhere.
Still, local authorities have been ready for the project to resume from its longstanding hiatus. At the same time, the city ended a partnership with the Michigan Department of Transportation, paying the city $1 million to help offset costs of the loss of tax revenue from a property that was already bought for the now-infamous project.
“We always said at first that we did not anticipate they would need what they thought they needed space-wise. And then, they didn’t use what they said they needed space-wise," Repp told the newspaper. "Our whole stance was, if you’re going to finish it and do it, do it. If not, give it back to us.”
The timeline of the project has yet to be determined.
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