...and now MDOT sues DIBC!!!

[leland_palmer]

This is gonna get ugly.

MDOT sues bridge firm over 'illegal' facilities in Ambassador Bridge project

Tom Greenwood / The Detroit News

MDOT filed a lawsuit Wednesday afternoon demanding that the Detroit International Bridge Co. be required to tear out numerous facilities it has "illegally" installed near the span as its part of the Ambassador Bridge Gateway project.

The disputed facilities include custom booths, filling stations for cars and trucks as well as a duty free shop. If required to do so, the removal of the structures could cost the DIBC tens of millions of dollars.

According to MDOT, the DIBC breached its contract by making changes to the original construction plan without consulting the state agency, including:
• The illegal confiscation of 23rd Street running north from Fort Street.
• Failure to build an elevated roadway over 23rd Street which would have given the public access to 23rd Street.
• Failure to build a two-lane road leading to the land-locked Lafayette Bait Shop at Lafayette and 23rd.
• Failure to build a two-lane truck road and the construction of Pier 19.
• Failure to reimburse MDOT $500,000 the state spent to acquire property needed by the DIBC for its portion of the Gateway Project.

"When we ask them what they were doing they told us not to worry, that they were building on their own property. We asked for plans and they only sent partial prints."
Kratofil said the DIBC built their facilities on property owned by Detroit, and then asked the city to vacate that property. The issue went before the Detroit City Council and they said "no."

[Stosh]

Now that's playing hardball. Good for MDOT.

[Lorax]

Bravo MDOT!

You need to grow a pair to fight billionaire fascists like the Matted Moron.

A little humility might suit DIBC better.

[mjs]

Boy oh boy is Maroun ever getting hurt without his boy Kwame. Might as well just sell the bridge adn train station and reinvest in New Orleans if Carolyn and Jenny lose their jobs.

[Homer]

Way to go MDOT Tony!!
You are the "MAN"!

[LodgeDodger]

Now that's playing hardball. Good for MDOT.

I'm actually amazed MDOT stood up to DIBC. Talk about a huge waste of money on the DBIC's part.

[Stosh]

I'm actually amazed MDOT stood up to DIBC. Talk about a huge waste of money on the DBIC's part.

I've seen this strategy before. It's the [[play on the Field of Dreams, sorry ) "first you build it, then act dumb" strategy. It's like, "it's already there, what are you going to do, make us tear it down?"

Yep. And it's the state, not your councilpeople.

[MIRepublic]

Good on MDOT, and I, too, was surprised.

So, what's this, two suits by two different parties, now [[i.e. Coast Guard & MDOT)? Now, we just need the municipal governments to bring the weight of the law down on them and have the third one be the charm.

[Sandhouse]

The excellent highway gossip site www.tollroadsnews.com has posted the entire 35-page complaint by Mike Cox on behalf of MDOT against the Ambassador Bridge. It sounds like if the court agrees with MDOT, Matty Moroun could be on the hook for building his part of the Gateway project, or his bond issuer owes the state $35 million. That would make one pissed-off insurance company. And failing construction of the project as agreed with USDOT, Moroun would get a bill for the $135 million that the state might have to pay back to Washington.

This is gonna be fun . . .

[urbanoutdoors]

Good on MDOT, and I, too, was surprised.

So, what's this, two suits by two different parties, now [[i.e. Coast Guard & MDOT)? Now, we just need the municipal governments to bring the weight of the law down on them and have the third one be the charm.

The city has already brought a couple lawsuits against the DIBC for the Illegal seizure of 23rd street and Illegal occupation if the riverside park extension.... So all three forms of government have filed suit....

[GREENTROIT]

Just when I was missing the drama of Kwame and the prospects of a drawn out Monica Conyers trial looked dim.... MDOT and the DBIC step up to the plate!!

This really is the city that keeps on giving...