Windsor Folks Sue Bridge Owners for $10 million

Today's Trucking---A few citizens living on the Canadian side of the Ambassador Bridge have sued the American owners of the bridge for $10 million, claiming that the company has caused such severe degradation to their part of town that they can no longer enjoy their homes.

In response, the people who own the bridge blame the Windsor City Council.

The Detroit International Bridge Company President Dan Stamper says Windsor city officials are hypocritical and that they’re obstructing progress at the expense of Windsor citizens.

In a statement released today, Stamper says Windsor residents who live close to the bridge, which includes the people who’ve launched the lawsuit, have been “pawns in an attempt to prevent us ever building a replacement bridge.”

Over the past decade, a company called Canadian Transit Company, an affiliate of the DIBC, has purchased 112 houses on Indian Road and Rosedale Avenue, about one kilometer from the Canadian end of the existing Ambassador Bridge.

If and when the company gets approval to build a new bridge, these homes would be torn down to make way. (If you’d like to see the neighborhood in question, click here.)

Stamper says he wants to work with the citizens to “accomplish good things, including quality jobs for the region.”

“The City government,” Stamper says, “specifically Mayor Eddie Francis, has tried very hard to stop any improvements near the Ambassador Bridge. Hypocritically, the City government has continued to demolish structures and close roads to improve the City-owned Tunnel at taxpayer expense. We say this is unfair treatment."

Meantime, downriver, plans for a new jointly operated bridge are proceeding, despite the efforts of the Ambassador Bridge owners to derail the project. For an update on its progress, click here.