Judge to rule on Ambassador Bridge safety report

Deb Price / The Detroit News

Washington-- Rep. John Dingell thinks the public should see the maintenance report of the privately owned Ambassador Bridge, putting him at odds with the bridge's owners.

But the Democratic congressman from Dearborn said Friday he is withholding release of the 2007 report he got Monday from the Federal Highway Administration pending a judge's ruling.

The Detroit International Bridge Co., which owns the bridge that is the busiest international crossing between the United States and Canada, filed a lawsuit Sept. 25 to prevent the release of the report, citing security and proprietary business reasons.

Judge Patrick J. Duggan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District in Detroit on Tuesday asked the highway agency to hold off on releasing the report until he has time to look into the matter.

Dan Stamper, president of the DIBC, said Friday he's open to releasing a shorter safety report for the public in the next two weeks if his attorneys don't see any liability concerns.

"The bottom line is the bridge is safe," Stamper said. "We do a thorough, annual inspection of the bridge. In fact, our inspection is so thorough that that is why we are concerned about it being released.

"It has information on the vulnerabilities of the bridge structure that could be used by terrorists to figure out where the best place to attack the bridge would be."

Asked earlier about why he wants the report to be made public, Dingell said, "Thousands of individuals and truckers use the Ambassador Bridge every day, and I believe they are entitled to know the state of the Ambassador Bridge before doing so."

Private bridges are not subject to biannual, federal safety inspections required for bridges receiving federal money for construction, repairs and upgrades.

However, the Ambassador Bridge's owners did give its 2007 maintenance report to the Michigan Department of Transportation as part of an April 2004 agreement for the Gateway Project, which received $170 million in federal, state and local money to help pay for plaza improvements and a direct connection from the bridge to Interstate 75, according to MDOT.

MDOT gave a copy of the report to the highway agency after the agency requested it.

"The (Gateway) agreement allowed us to supply the FHWA the inspection report if they so requested, but no one else," MDOT spokesman Bill Shreck said.

Spokeswoman Cathy St. Denis of the Federal Highway Administration said: "At the judge's request, we voluntarily agreed not to disclose the report to anyone other than Congressman Dingell, with whom we had already shared it, while the judge considers the issue. We expect to hear from the judge in the next few days."

Dingell asked for the report from the highway agency last February over the possibility that a second span will be built next to the bridge.

"If the (Detroit International Bridge Co.) moves forward with plans to twin the Ambassador Bridge, it is imperative that the public and all relevant government agencies involved have access to both maintenance reports and inspection reports of the current structure," Dingell said.

dprice@detnews.com (202) 662-8736