By TODD SPANGLER • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • June 15, 2009
Updated at 12:17 a.m.
WASHINGTON – The Coast Guard is telling Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun to halt work on a second span, at least until the agency is certain he has all the property rights he needs to build a new bridge and concerns raised by the Michigan Department of Transportation are addressed.
The Coast Guard was expected to issue a news release this morning announcing the letter of abeyance to the Detroit International Bridge Co., which is owned primarily by Moroun and operates the Ambassador Bridge – the busiest crossing between the U.S. and Canada.
Moroun has been working to secure permits to build a second span adjacent to the 80-year-old Ambassador Bridge while officials on both sides of the Detroit River have been pushing another publicly owned span about a mile downriver.
Ambassador Bridge officials, meanwhile, have said that proposal is an attempt to siphon traffic – and revenues – away from their span, even though they maintain traffic figures don’t warrant a new bridge at all.
The Bridge Company has even filed suit against the federal government, saying its process for an initial approval of the rival span – known as the Detroit River International Crossing or DRIC – was hopelessly flawed.
The Coast Guard abeyance is essentially a stay, and the Bridge Company needs the Coast Guard’s approval to continue work on a second span. At issue apparently is whether the Bridge Company has acquired the necessary property rights for Riverside Park – owned by the city of Detroit – which is impacted by the construction. Another issue involves the MDOT and its concern that work at the Gateway Project linking the bridge to I-75 isn’t proceeding as agreed to by the two parties.
Once those and others issues are worked out, the Bridge Company could ask the Coast Guard for the permit to continue its work, and there were indications today that Bridge Company officials were meeting with the agency. But it also could be a significant hurdle, with the city and the Bridge Company fighting over rights to Riverside Park and roads around the new bridge project.
http://www.freep.com/article/20090615/BUSINESS06/90615036/Coast%20Guard%20tells%20businessman%20to%20halt%20new%20bridge
