BUFFALO - A Michigan company is moving forward with efforts to establish a new border crossing between the United States and Canada to handle truck traffic in one of the northern border's busiest trade corridors.

The owners of the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit filed paperwork with the U.S. State Department in recent weeks seeking permission to build and operate a bridge across the Niagara River at Buffalo.

The bridge would be about 1 1/2 miles north of the existing Peace Bridge, the third busiest commercial crossing and second busiest overall crossing along the U.S-Canadian border.

The Ambassador Niagara Signature Bridge group envisions a $300 million four-lane span for the roughly 6,000 trucks that now cross the Peace Bridge daily and relegating the existing Peace Bridge to passenger vehicles only.

Operators of the Peace Bridge, who are in the midst of expansion plans to ease frequent commercial backups, oppose the Ambassador group's plans, which have been in the works for several years.

“It's good that they finally filed something so their application can finally receive some scrutiny and some comment,” said Ron Rienas, general manager of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority. “So far there hasn't been any of that.”

The State Department will accept written comments on the Ambassador group's permit application until April 28.

The group's regional director, James Kane, said the proposed bridge represents a “reasonable, feasible alternative” to the Peace Bridge expansion plans, which would uproot the surrounding neighborhood for a larger plaza.

“This effort is a culmination of seven years of private investment, land acquisition, engineering and environmental impact study that will demonstrate to the respective communities that there is an alternative to taking historic properties, impacting historic parks, and at no cost to the taxpayer,” Kane said.

Rienas countered that studies have already determined the proposed site of the new bridge is unworkable because of cost and environmental concerns. And he said Canadian law prohibits building any bridge within six miles of the Peace Bridge without the bridge authority's permission.

The Ambassador Niagara Signature Bridge Group is a unit of the Detroit International Bridge Co., which along with the Canadian Transit Co., own and operate the busiest vehicle crossing along the border, the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

The group's application for a presidential permit is an early step in a project that also will require approval from Canada.

Kane said the group will meet with state and federal officials to outline plans and try to secure support.

The State Department will decide after a period of public input whether to allow the project to go forward.