The Michigan Department of Transportation ran into a powerful obstacle when acquiring land for a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Canada, but a county judge sided with the state.
"Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Robert Colombo Jr. advanced the effort to build the Gordie Howe International Bridge this past week when he dismissed attempts by the Moroun family's Detroit International Bridge Company to block seizure of Moroun-owned land in Detroit's Delray district," reports John Gallagher. The Moroun family owns the Ambassador Bridge, and they've tried several methods to block the planned international crossing that would compete with the Ambassador bridge.
"The Michigan Department of Transportation has been acquiring more than 600 parcels of property in the Delray district to assemble land needed for the Gordie Howe bridge project," according to Gallagher.
By "acquiring," Gallagher means seizing by power of eminent domain. The Moroun family's effort to block the use of eminent domain questions the legality of whether the state can use eminent domain to benefit the Canadian entity building the bridge—i.e., the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority. The use of eminent domain has already created controversies among more communitarian interests in the neighborhood of Delray.
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