Moroun revives Harsens Island bridge plan
Execs: No state money needed for project
By Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki and John Gallagher Free Press Staff Writers
Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun may build a second bridge after all. But this one wouldn’t be to Canada.
Moroun’s Detroit International Bridge Co. announced Wednesday it was ready to resurrect plans to build a bridge to Harsens Island, now that the owner of the island’s lone car ferry service has said he plans to retire and shut his business down.
The bridge company already owns the necessary land on the mainland and the island, as part of an aborted plan to build a bridge about five years ago, said company President Dan Stamper. The company had talked to state officials and done most of the preliminary work, including pulling most of the necessary permits, Stamper said.
Then the economy crashed and the plans were shelved. But not forgotten.
“The issue is, is the economy strong enough to go forward?” Stamper said. “I think the economy has been replaced by the threat of no service to the island.”
The ferry, operated by Champions Auto Service, is the only year-round link to the mainland for Harsens Island’s 1,200 permanent residents. It transported more than 275,000 vehicles in 2011, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission.
Stamper said it would take about 18 months to build the bridge across the North Channel to the island, which sits at the mouth of the St. Clair River in St. Clair County’s Clay Township.
The North Channel is about a quarter of a mile wide, according to Clay Township Supervisor Tom Krueger.
Stamper said his company would build a bascule bridge, which is a drawbridge that opens in the middle, so it would not hamper boat traffic.
Stamper said the toll bridge would charge rates comparable to Champion ferry’s current rate of $7 per round-trip ride for a car. No state money would be used to build the bridge, Stamper said.
Moroun, 85, who with his family owns the Ambassador Bridge, has battled Michigan and Canadian officials for years over his proposal to build a second span over the Detroit River next to the Ambassador. He has spent millions of dollars trying to block plans backed by Gov. Rick Snyder to build a competing public bridge about two miles downriver from the Ambassador.
The legal wrangles over the proposed public bridge form only part of a web of lawsuits and other legal entanglements.
Moroun and Stamper, his top aide, were jailed for a night earlier this year for civilian contempt of court stemming from the long-running dispute with the Michigan Department of Transportation over construction of the Gateway project.
Gateway was a joint project with MDOT to ease congestion at the Ambassador Bridge by connecting it directly to nearby interstates through a series of new roads and ramps.
In addition, Moroun has either filed lawsuits or been sued in local, state, federal and Canadian courts in multiple disputes involving, among other things, control of the City of Detroit’s Riverside Park near his bridge and the demolition of houses near his bridge in Windsor.
Several years ago, the Morouns also proposed building a bridge between Buffalo, N.Y., and Ft. Erie, Ontario, but that proposal came to nothing.
Ferry owner David Bryson notified the Michigan Public Service Commission in July that he intends to retire. The MPSC posted the news on Tuesday, stunning the island community, which swells to about 5,000 during the summer months.
There is only a smattering of island businesses. All goods and supplies come via ferry, and islanders rely on it to get to everything from shopping to visiting doctors on the mainland. Even the school buses must travel by ferry.
A bridge would probably be welcome news to the islanders, Krueger said.
“I think the people on the island are looking for some stable ingress and egress to get on and off the island,” Krueger said.
Several years ago, a survey found islanders split about 50-50 on whether they wanted a bridge. But Krueger said he thinks recurring issues such as rates and now the ferry owner’s retirement have likely changed that in the bridge’s favor.
“It’s kind of a fantasyland for a lot of people,” Krueger said of Harsens Island. “It’s kind of a throwback to days gone by.”
Bryson gave no date for his retirement in his letter to the MPSC.
MPSC spokeswoman Judy Palnau said the Harsens Island Transportation Authority informed the state agency that the bridge company planned to build a bridge to the island when the ferry operators applied for a rate hike in 2011 that was denied.
The MPSC has given Champions Auto Service 120 days to submit a proposal for transportation to and from the island. After that is submitted, the agency’s staff will write a report with recommendations by March 1.
• CONTACT PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI:
MMWALSH@FREEPRESS.COM
Manuel (Matty) Moroun’s bridge company already owns the necessary land on the mainland and Harsens Island.
Free to retire ferry service
In the Aug. 15 article “Harsens Island fears for ferry service,” we learned that David Bryson, the operator of the service, wants to retire. Bryson reportedly sought a rate hike in May but was rebuffed, and apparently feels that it’s no longer worth it for him to keep working. But township supervisor Tom Krueger opines that “even though he’s a private business … I don’t believe the MPSC would let him just shut down.”
As far as I can tell from the article, Bryson is a free citizen, which precludes enslaving him, even for an essential service. It sounds as if the Harsens Island community had better buy and operate a public bridge or ferry. And, by the way, don’t ask the rest of us to belly up to the bar to help pay for it; we didn’t ask you to live on an island.
Ralph Emmons Dearborn
FILE PHOTO BY MARY SCHROEDER/DETROIT FREE PRESS
The operator of the Harsens Island ferry service said he wants to retire.
