Judge won't stop St. Croix bridge project over lawsuit

A judge has refused to stop the St. Croix River bridge project amid a federal lawsuit over minority contractor participation.

Federal Judge Richard Kyle denied a temporary restraining order, put the case on hold, and said a separate state lawsuit first needs to be resolved.

C.S. McCrossan sued the Minnesota Department of Transportation after the agency passed it over for bridge approach work. MnDOT instead chose two other firms, even though the joint bid was $6 million higher and they had a lower technical score.

MnDOT said McCrossan did not make a good faith effort to meet project goals for disadvantaged business enterprises. But company president Tom McCrossan said his proposal complied with state and federal law.

"If MnDOT had made the decision to award the contract to McCrossan, the state would have received the project that received the highest technical score for the least amount of money," McCrossan said. "Our DBE participation would have complied with the state and federal regulations."

MnDOT has said any construction delays would cost millions and could set the project back a year or two.