Companies under Moroun lose Supreme Court challenge to stop Howe bridge

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The Michigan Supreme Court has rejected an attempt from companies controlled by owners of the Ambassador Bridge to derail construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

The court released a ruling Friday saying it won’t hear an appeal filed by several companies that include Crown Enterprises, Central Transport and Detroit International Bridge Company — each controlled by the Moroun family.

The ongoing court challenge to halt construction of the Howe bridge reached the state’s Supreme Court as an appeal of a previous June, 2020, decision by the Michigan Appeals Court. The lower court had previously also ruled against the Moroun-related companies’ ongoing bid to stop construction of the new $5.7-billion downriver bridge project scheduled to open in late 2024.

Lawyers for the companies under Moroun argued the state government had voted years ago to forbid the Michigan Department of Transportation from spending any tax dollars on the project.

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But lower courts in the Detroit area and the state’s Appeals Court had previously determined MDOT was not spending any funds on the Howe project — for such things as property acquisition on the U.S. side — because the Canadian federal government was fully reimbursing any expenditures.

“The Court of Appeals concluded that MDOT’s actions complied with all the statutory restrictions and were otherwise constitutional,” noted the order released by the Supreme Court.

Only one of seven judges who sit on the state’s Supreme Court expressed interest in hearing the appeal. Another one of the judges, who previously was employed as legal counsel in the office of former Gov. Rick Snyder, declared a conflict of interest on the filing.

“The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA) welcomes the court’s decision,” said Mark Butler, spokesman for WDBA which is overseeing construction of the Howe bridge.

“We are fully committed to delivering the Gordie Howe International Bridge project and are making significant progress on both sides of the border.”

The Gordie Howe project includes a new six-lane cable-stayed bridge, plazas on both sides of the border and a new three-kilometre feeder road in Detroit that will link to the I-75 freeway. Construction on the project began in late 2018.

Construction is being paid for by the Canadian government under a public-private partnership with an expectation to be reimbursed by tolls in the years ahead.

dbattagello@postmedia.com