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Taking a toll; Owner promises to fight Grosse Ile attempt to acquire bridge through eminent domain.

Publication: Crain's Detroit Business
Publication Date: 04-AUG-03 		Format: Online - approximately 1123 words
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Full Article Title: Taking a toll; Owner promises to fight Grosse Ile attempt to acquire bridge through eminent domain.(News)(Grosse Ile Toll Bridge may sell property)

Article Excerpt
Byline: Michael Strong

The family that has owned and operated the Grosse Ile Toll Bridge for more than 90 years may not be doing so much longer.

The Grosse Ile Township board voted last month to invoke eminent domain on the bridge, which connects the island to Riverview.

The township said the reason is to ensure unfettered access to the mainland when the free, county-owned bridge that crosses into Trenton is closed for renovation next year.

However, Paul Smoke, owner of the Grosse Ile Bridge Co., which owns and operates the bridge, doesn't want to sell it. Smoke's family has owned the bridge since it was built in 1913 - when sheep, horses and the occasional Model T crossed the bridge regularly.

Smoke, 51, is the third generation to run the bridge, and the fourth generation is already helping with the day-to-day operations and plans to run it when Smoke retires.

"This is what I do,'' he said. "I don't want to go and start another business...

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