Tom Warne Report, 4 May 2012
DETROIT – Michigan’s Supreme Court has denied an appeal by the Ambassador Bridge owners’ to regain command of the $230 million Gateway Project under dispute at the bridge. The brief ruling upheld the earlier ruling from the Court of Appeals which denied the Detroit International Bridge Co.’s appeal of a local judge’s ruling to give control of the project to the Michigan Department of Transportation to finish.
In a five-line ruling Friday, the Supreme Court rejected the bridge company’s appeal, “because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court.”
The Gateway project is designed to ease border congestion by connecting the Ambassador Bridge directly to local expressways with new ramps and roads. MDOT and DIBC agreed in a 2004 contract to jointly construct the project. MDOT sued DIBC in 2009 however, saying the bridge company had not built its portion of the project. Instead, according to MDOT, DIBC built a duty-free facility and a ramp for a second new bridge that is in conflict with Gateway. Since a Wayne County Circuit judge turned control of the project over to MDOT, the department has demolished the Pier 19 “bridge to nowhere” ramp.
MDOT spokesman Jeff Cranson said the department is satisfied with the court’s action. “We are still very much on schedule to complete this thing on a rapid pace,” he said. The full project is expected to be completed this September.