DETROIT, MI - Now that the New International Trade Crossing (NITC) between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario

appears to be moving forward

, bicycle advocates are seeing to it that a bike path is built along with the bridge.

Todd Scott, director of Detroit for the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, said that Michigan’s Department of Transportation already signed off on a plan that included a bike and pedestrian route for the bridge, and said final approval was contingent on U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

So Scott said he contacted Sen. Carl Levin, who then wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, expressing his support for bikes on the NITC.



"I just got a letter last week from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, saying they fully support it and will work with people on the design," Scott said Saturday at the Detroit Bike City expo.

Construction on the NITC could begin as early as next year. The bridge, which is being funded by the Canadian government, likely won't be complete until 2016 at the earliest.

But, once completed, if a bike path is included it opens a wide variety of routes for two-wheeled travelers.

Todd Scott talks about plans for 100 miles of bike lanes in Detroit and a bike path on the New International Trade Crossing on Saturday, March 16 at Detroit Bike City.

Scott said he hopes Gov. Snyder’s announced

greenway from Wisconsin to Belle Isle

will connect with it.

The Underground Railroad Bicycle Route

, which travels form Mobile, Ala. to Owen Sound, Ontario, could be linked up with it, he said.

And, once the bike path connects with Windsor, Ontario, bikers will then have access to the

Waterfront Trail

, which heads east to Niagara and joins with other trails on its course all the way to Montreal, Quebec.

"We need it for eco-tourism and everything," Scott said. "It's going to be an amazing connection between the two countries."