Windsor offers to buy Detroit section of tunnel linking the two cities

Above: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and Detroit Emergency manager hold a news conference to talk about the city’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing. 

WINDSOR, Ont. – The mayor of Windsor, Ont., says the city is looking to buy the U.S. portion of the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel in the wake of the American city’s bankruptcy.

Eddie Francis says his office has reached out to the office of Detroit’s emergency manager and expressed an interest in purchasing the tunnel that runs beneath the Detroit River.

Though the move had been feared for months, when Detroit filed for Chapter 9 on Thursday it became the largest U.S. city in history to do so.

Francis says the bankruptcy didn’t come as a surprise, but he sees an opportunity for Windsor.

While Francis believes Detroit’s bankruptcy won’t impact other relationships between the two communities, he says one of the key questions is what happens to the U.S. section of tunnel.

Currently that portion is owned by the City of Detroit but it’s leased to a private corporation for the next seven years.