Earlier this week the city of Windsor shut down a street. Not just any street, but one of the "heaviest travelled roads in Windsor." Yes, the highly trafficked Wynadotte St. was deemed a safety risk this week after residents complained that debris was allegedly falling from the beloved Ambassador Bridge. And not just a little debris — we're talking a lot of debris — like, enough debris that the city elected to shut down this busy, busy thoroughfare through Thanksgiving break.
CBC News with some details:
"The city engineers looked at the bridge deck Wednesday. Then the city closed Peter and Donnelly streets under the bridge that afternoon.
Gaping holes can be seen from beneath the bridge."
Well not everyone can see these holes. On Thursday, four days after the alleged debris came crashing down, 88-year old Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun visited the quaint town of Windsor to weigh in on the situation.
"The bridge is not crumbling," Moroun declared.
From the foot of the bridge the octogenarian explained that the roadbed was just fine ("I travelled on it to get here.") and that repairs would not be made until his company, The Detroit International Bridge Co., had its way and could add a new span to the bridge — an issue currently tied up in Canadian court.
CBC succinctly explains Moroun's ultimatum: "Moroun said any extensive repair and upkeep of the Ambassador Bridge essentially goes hand-in-hand with a new bridge."
Before traveling back on the "totally fine" bridge, which accommodated 7.1 million vehicles in 2014, Moroun made sure to spell the situation out for everyone in Windsor:
"What's going on with the City [of Windsor] is they don't want to see the Ambassador Bridge stand tall for the next 50 years."
Here is the statement Moroun's company released:
"The game of holding the Ambassador Bridge rebuild work at bay until the government can get their bridge built is a dangerous one.
"It needs to be said that the City of Windsor has worked very hard to delay and object to a complete rebuild of this section of the bridge. The work was to have been performed this past summer. If the city found a genuine issue in need of repair that our engineer has missed, we'll take care of it. We are not aware of any incidents linked to the city's concerns. The major rebuild should be allowed to proceed.
The City Government in Windsor is now taunting us by criticizing the age of our bridge while simultaneously objecting to any major replacement or repairs."
