Worker Crushed at Michigan DOT Construction Site

A worker was killed Sept. 10 at 5 p.m. on the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) I-75 Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project. The accident occurred at one of the new bridges under construction at the Gateway site connecting I-75 to the Ambassador Bridge Plaza.

Gilbert Danz, a 29-year-old employee of project subcontractor Ace Structural Steel Erection Inc. of Shelbyville, Mich., was killed when a temporary scaffolding tower unexpectedly collapsed on him while being dismantled.

The incident took place in an area of the freeway that has been closed since February 2008. It did not involve any portion of the permanent bridge structure that currently is under construction and according to MDOT, poses no danger to workers on the site or to the general public.

“We consider any worker a member of the MDOT family,” said Greg Johnson, region engineer for MDOT’s Metro Region. “Our prayers and sympathy are with the family.”