Canada and the U.S. have named the members of the international authority that will oversee the construction of the new publicly owned $1-billion bridge connecting Windsor, Ont., and Detroit.

Kristine Burr, Genevieve Gagnon and a person to be named at a later date have been appointed by Canada.

Americans Michael D. Hayes, Birgit M. Klohs and Matt Rizik have been appointed by the U.S.

Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder made the announcement in Windsor on Wednesday.

The group of six will oversee and approve key steps in the procurement process for the new crossing. It will also monitor compliance of the Windsor-Detroit Authority with the crossing agreement, signed by Canada and Michigan in 2012.

Raitt also announced appointments to the board of the authority...

The total cost of the project would be about $4 billion Cdn, including work on freeway interchanges, customs plazas in both countries and infrastructure work.

The final permit was issued last month after a U.S. court rejected a request for an injunction filed by the private company that owns the existing Ambassador Bridge.

The next step involves securing funding for a U.S. customs facility, along with acquiring land on the American side.

A proposal to transfer 301 Detroit-owned properties to the Michigan Land Bank in exchange for $1.4 million from the Canadian government as part of plans for the crossing was delayed Monday.

...the Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr's office has agreed to delay consideration of such an agreement until September.

Sources tell The Canadian Press the panel is expected to try to move the project forward, but the proposed New International Trade Crossing will still need $250 million in U.S. funding to build a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection plaza in Detroit.

This has been excerpted from the 30 July 2014 article by the CBC News and is available in its entirety at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/canada-u-s-name-panel-to-oversee-new-1b-detroit-windsor-bridge-1.2721513.