DETROIT – – A 10,000-tons pile of dirt that’s sitting on a piece of Detroit real estate not far from the Ambassador Bridge is about as symbolic as a heap of garbage has ever been.

Because it’s been a week of trash talking in Motown and it’s all about who is going to build a bridge to Windsor first.

On Wednesday, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) launched a lawsuit against the Detroit International Bridge Co. (DBIC) alleging that the bridge company breached its contract by moving ahead on construction plans without letting the MDOT know. The lawsuit said the bridge company should be required to tear out numerous facilities that it has installed near the bridge as part of the Ambassador Bridge Gateway project.

The bridge company has not kept the Ministry adequately apprised of its activities, the MDOT charges.

On Thursday, DBIC fired back, accusing the Michigan government of fogging facts and deliberately delaying the bridge company’s plans to build a new bridge linking Windsor to Detroit.

Incidentally, DBIC launched its own lawsuit against the Federal Highway Administration last month, alleging that the public bridge the government  is designing with Canada would undermine the private structure as well as uproot the impoverished Detroit suburb of Delay (the site picked for the U.S. bridge landing).

DBIC, which runs the Ambassador Bridge, is owned by Grosse Pointe trucking magnate Manuel Moroun.

And the aforementioned dirt? It’s on the West Grand Boulevard Ramp, located in the disputed territory, and the MDOT says it’s there for two reasons: both as storage and as a deterrent to prevent DBIC from proceeding with its gateway project.

On Thursday, the bridge owners claimed that they’ve been trying "for a long time" to resolve issues between themselves and MDOT and recently requested mediation.

"MDOT did not even respond, but instead filed this lawsuit," the bridge company stated. "MDOT has been fully aware of the traffic connectivity improvements we planned and constructed.

"To now charge otherwise, 15 years into the project, is literally unbelievable. The girders, cement, construction equipment and crews have been on site for years."

According to the bridge company, MDOT’s action is meant to delay DIBC’s building a privately funded $1-billion replacement span for the 80-year-old Ambassador Bridge — a project that will immediately create more than 4,000 new jobs.

A MDOT spokesman stated that the government would have accepted DIBC’s construction changes if the company simply asked them first.

Meanwhile, MDOT says it will reopen a 1.5-mile stretch of Interstate 75 leading to the existing Ambassador. The section will be accessible starting July 2, five months ahead of schedule.

As part of the $230 million Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project, the stretch runs from Rosa Parks Boulevard to Clark Street in southwest Detroit.