As part of the work on the "Gateway Project," the Michigan Department of Transportation opened an access road that will move truck traffic coming from Canada over the Ambassador Bridge directly on to nearby highways.
Prior to the road opening, trucks had to drive on secondary streets in southwest Detroit to get to the highways.
The Detroit Free Press reports the road opened yesterday, and a ceremony for the opening is planned for today.
The Detroit News reports the opening comes 5 days ahead of schedule, but because of the legal battles around the Gateway Project, the road opening is really years behind schedule.
In actuality, the opening of the access road comes about four years behind schedule because of protracted legal battles between MDOT and the Detroit International Bridge Co. over the $230 million Gateway Project. When completely finished, the project will remove up to 10,000 trucks a day from secondary streets in southwest Detroit and move them directly to and from the Ambassador Bridge plaza to nearby freeways.
The project was supposed to be a partnership between MDOT and the Detroit International Bridge Company, but a judge found the DIBC to be in civil contempt of court after the company didn't follow the judge's orders to complete the project.
On March 8, the judge ordered the DIBC to cede control of its portion of the project and ordered MDOT to complete the remaining work.
MDOT says 95 percent of the new truck route is completed, and about 20 percent of the overall project is completed. When will it be finished? MDOT says their goal is to be done with the project "within a year and hopefully much sooner."
Here's MDOT's take on the overall project:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrWb0lYPcmc&feature=player_embedded
