Michigan Denies Petition to Allow Hazmat Loads on Ambassador Bridge
The Michigan Department of Transportation has announced that it will not allow corrosive or flammable materials to cross the Ambassador Bridge that connects Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
MDOT’s Jan. 31 announcement followed an eight-month review of an application filed by the bridge’s owners, Manuel Moroun and his family, who wanted to see hazardous materials, including fuel, allowed over the span.
As part of the review, a technical study of the issues was released in December 2012 and, afterward, MDOT held a series of public hearings where the public, law enforcement agencies and emergency responders on both sides of the border weighed in on the application.
MDOT said it “determined that no net improvement to public safety would result from granting the modifications requested by the [bridge owners].”
Now more than 80 years old, the Ambassador is the only crossing between the two cities.
Fuel tankers and most other trucks running hazmat across the river must use the Detroit Windsor Truck Ferry or go 60 miles north to the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Mich.
Michigan and Canada are planning to build a new publically owned bridge over the river, a plan Moroun has vigorously opposed.
Maroun criticized the decision and pledged to seek judicial review.
“By forcing trucks to drive an additional 60 miles through the most populated area in Michigan, [Gov. Rick] Snyder can punish the Ambassador Bridge for opposing his DRIC/NITC bridge,” said the Detroit International Bridge Co., the company that manages the Ambassador. “Worse, Snyder has already declared his bridge will be allowed to handle hazardous trucks; therefore this decision has nothing to do with ‘made-up’ concerns for the local neighborhoods.”
