(Photo: MDOT/Facebook)

DETROIT – Both the Detroit Free Press and The Windsor Star reported that hundreds of trucks rolled onto a new truck road linking the Ambassador Bridge to interstates, last Monday.

Adjacent to Fort Street, the two-lane access ramp leads to I-75 and I-96 freeways.

The new truck route officially opened Tuesday morning with local politicians and residents gathering to celebrate the long-awaited ramp. More than a few truckers honked their horns in support as they drove past the celebration, noted local media.

The new road is part of the Gateway project, a plan that has been tangled up in court battles between Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Manuel (Matty) Moroun’s Detroit International Bridge Co. (DIBC). Both MDOT and the bridge company were to complete specific portions of the project.

But in 2009, MDOT sued Moroun’s bridge company for not fulfilling its part of the contract and found in civil contempt for not completing its part of the contract. MDOT was given control of DIBC’s portion of the project.

For years, residents in Southwest Detroit have been complaining of excessive noise from truck traffic. Politicians and residents came out in celebration.

All reconfiguration work by MDOT on the Detorit plaza won’t be completed until September.

In a statement, Dan Stamper, president of DIBC said “If the opening of a single truck ramp by MDOT causes a ceremony, just think of the major party we could have if MDOT opened the other three connecting ramps they have barricaded for the last three and a half years.”

For more on the story, check out the Detroit Free Press here.