"Manuel Moroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge until his death in 2020, spoke out against this proposal. He sued the governments of Canada and Michigan to stop its construction, and released a proposal to build a second span of the Ambassador Bridge (which he would own) instead.[38] Critics suggest that Moroun's opposition was fueled by the prospect of lost profits from duty-free gasoline sales, which are exempt from about 60 cents per gallon in taxes even though the pump price to consumers is only a few cents lower.[11] On May 5, 2011, a judge dismissed the case, citing a lack of reasoning for it to proceed.[39] Moroun and his Detroit International Bridge Company contended that the new bridge would affect its proposal for a second span which would be built next to the Ambassador Bridge. "
The idea that a private individual, no matter how wealthy is able to literally exact a toll on society is ridiculous. In Europe we also still have a few toll bridges and tunnels, as well as many toll roads (for instance: in Poland and France). Most of these, but not all, are in the hands of various governments. I can't wait until this particular form of highway robbery disappears. Oh, and Germany re-enacted something similar but only for tourists. They first got slapped down in court then reduced the German road tax to be able to apply the tax on 'everybody' but in practice that means that it is just a levy on foreign traffic.