Traffic was moving normally Saturday morning on the Blue Water Bridge near Sarnia as police in Windsor began clearing a blockade at the Ambassador Bridge.
Windsor police tweeted shortly after 8:15 am Saturday officers had started enforcement at and near the Ambassador Bridge.
Enforcement comes more than five days after protesters set up at the base of the Ambassador Bridge effectively closing the important international crossing in a statement against vaccine mandates.
Automakers – heavily impacted by the border closure at the bridge – with the backing of the City of Windsor sought and received an injunction that came into effect at 7 pm Friday night. New emergency measures enacted by the provincial government, came into effect at 12:01 am Saturday morning.
The Michigan Department of Transportation reported Saturday that wait times for traffic crossing Blue Water Bridge into Port Huron were less than 15 minutes for cars and commercial vehicles.
The wait time for trucks crossing into Canada was greater than 60 minutes, the agency said.
A group supporting the Freedom Convoy parked several farm and construction vehicles on the westbound lanes of Highway 402 near Forest Road earlier in the week. The OPP closed a section of the highway’s westbound lanes in Lambton County and detoured traffic around the area.
Members of the group indicated earlier in the week they might take other actions, if authorities acted against the highway demonstration.
“If they respect this, we’ll respect the bridge,” one of the demonstrators said Thursday.
Highway 402 runs from Highway 401 in London west to the Blue Water Bridge which spans the St. Clair River between Point Edward and Port Huron, Michigan.
Westbound traffic on the Blue Water Bridge was halted for more than eight hours last Sunday by a demonstration involving hundreds of vehicles parked on westbound on Highway 402 in Sarnia and Point Edward.
Trucks were also backed up Tuesday from the bridge to the city limits of Sarnia because commercial traffic was rerouted from the demonstration at the Ambassador Bridge, but Michigan-bound traffic on the Sarnia-area crossing returned to normal by the following day.
Long truck backups were reported during the week in Michigan on highways approaching the Blue Water Bridge as commercial haulers were diverted to the crossing from Windsor where the demonstrations blocked entry to Canada.
Lambton County officials said Saturday they were in contact with the OPP while they monitored the situation at the highway blockade in Warwick Township.
“While the right to peaceful protest is a freedom that is valued by every Canadian, this protest, and the others taking place across the country, is having an incredibly negative effect on local residents and businesses,” Lambton Warden Kevin Marriott said in a statement from the county.
“The County is in continued contact with local OPP and remains committed to continue to work with the OPP, as needed, to reach our common interests in bringing this situation to a timely resolution,” he said.
With files from the Windsor Star