Moroun Addresses Bridge Worries

By Allanah Wills

The vice chairman of the Ambassador Bridge Company is blaming the City of Windsor for the bridge’s current condition during a press conference Thursday afternoon.

Matt Moroun, son of bridge owner Manuel “Matty” Moroun, called out mayor Drew Dilkens by name, along with the City of Windsor, blaming them repeatedly for blocking the repair of the bridge.

“Every step of the way the City of Windsor has acted to object and delay Transport Canada’s approval and throw obstacles in our way of doing that major repair and rebuild,” said Moroun.

Wyandotte Street West underneath the bridge was closed Oct. 9 after reports of falling debris. Three more streets were closed for the same reason Oct. 14 after an inspection by an engineer hired by the City of Windsor.

“We have not heard from the city,” said Moroun. “The only information we’ve gotten from the city is their actions from closing the streets and what we’ve read in the newspaper. We’ve reached out and contacted them asking for co-operation or a copy of the report and they say it’s  forthcoming but we haven’t seen it yet.”

Despite the reports of debris and visible holes in the bridge’s infrastructure, Moroun said multiple times that the bridge is not crumbling and any holes are not in the road bed, but in the bridge’s closed-off sidewalk. Moroun claims the bridge is safe and gets inspected once a year, even though rules state it only needs to be inspected every two years. The last inspection was July 2014 and its 2015 inspection is due in two weeks.

Windsor-West MP Brian Masse said the bridge debate is a case of “he said, she said.”

“I’ve seen the impact of the border on our community and it’s sad that again the border is becoming a burden,” said Masse. “ It shouldn’t be that way. ..It’s embarrassing as an elected official representing Canada that we have international news media here.”
One resident who lives near the bridge spoke up during the conference, claiming there wasn’t any debris on Wyandotte Street, calling the whole story a “hyperbole.”

Caroline Taylor, who lives in Sandwich Towne, disagrees with a claim the story was exaggerated. Taylor wasn’t impressed with Moroun, saying he dodged questions and quickly left after berating the city.

“It’s always been a C-, it’s probably a D now. Over the years when its been graded he always got a C- grade which bothers me because how can we allow him to build a new bridge when he can’t even maintain the one he has now,” said Taylor.

Shortly after the press conference, Dilkens replied to Moroun by tweeting a picture of a chunk of rust coated concrete with the caption “Here’s a reason we closed Wyandotte Street under the Ambassador Bridge.”