The Missing Link
There are "missing links" in areas of evolution other than just between the ape and human beings it seems.
I attended a meeting the other day on the border. There were about a dozen people there from different fields, a wide cross-section of different professions. Some knew a lot about the border and some knew a bit from what they learned from the media, but not in great detail.
There was one gentleman there who seemed to know a lot about it from actually attending Bi-national meetings. I did not ask him if he was a "stakeholder" which means he gets to hear and learn the real juicy stuff or a mere mortal like the rest of us who has to get our crumbs from whatever the DRIC reps choose to tell us.
What he said was shocking although not surprising. Contrary to the appearance of unanimity that the Canadian DRIC members tried to portray, in fact the Americans and Canadians disagreed:
THE AMERICAN DRIC MEMBERS SUPPORTED THE TWINNED BRIDGE PROPOSAL, THE CANADIANS DID NOT.
This clearly explains the need for the diagonal bridge as a "compromise." Accordingly, the only realistic spot where that can go clearly is somewhere near Brock (It can never be built at Prospect since it would be too long and too expensive to build) no matter how many Sandwich tours are set up by Ron Jones and Caroline Postma for the DRIC members or how many brownies that Ms Cuderman bakes for the visitors or what Brian Masse or Eddie Francis have to say.
The other interesting statement was that the US Federal Highway group has determined using their own calculations that a new bridge will NOT be needed until at least 2020 or perhaps even later because of lower traffic projections. That is a bit longer than the Bi-national revision but probably more accurate now given the sharp downturn in auto plants and jobs.
Assuming that this is really true (and who knows since the process changes so quickly) what does this mean for Windsor?
I attended a meeting the other day on the border. There were about a dozen people there from different fields, a wide cross-section of different professions. Some knew a lot about the border and some knew a bit from what they learned from the media, but not in great detail.
There was one gentleman there who seemed to know a lot about it from actually attending Bi-national meetings. I did not ask him if he was a "stakeholder" which means he gets to hear and learn the real juicy stuff or a mere mortal like the rest of us who has to get our crumbs from whatever the DRIC reps choose to tell us.
What he said was shocking although not surprising. Contrary to the appearance of unanimity that the Canadian DRIC members tried to portray, in fact the Americans and Canadians disagreed:
THE AMERICAN DRIC MEMBERS SUPPORTED THE TWINNED BRIDGE PROPOSAL, THE CANADIANS DID NOT.
This clearly explains the need for the diagonal bridge as a "compromise." Accordingly, the only realistic spot where that can go clearly is somewhere near Brock (It can never be built at Prospect since it would be too long and too expensive to build) no matter how many Sandwich tours are set up by Ron Jones and Caroline Postma for the DRIC members or how many brownies that Ms Cuderman bakes for the visitors or what Brian Masse or Eddie Francis have to say.
The other interesting statement was that the US Federal Highway group has determined using their own calculations that a new bridge will NOT be needed until at least 2020 or perhaps even later because of lower traffic projections. That is a bit longer than the Bi-national revision but probably more accurate now given the sharp downturn in auto plants and jobs.
Assuming that this is really true (and who knows since the process changes so quickly) what does this mean for Windsor?
It probably means that there is little chance of a bridge being built soon notwithstanding what the Feds may want or the Provincial Border Czar may do since the Americans do not see an urgent need for it. After all, the US is picking up part of the tab for the new bridge. One of the Detroit papers has been on this bandwagon for some time. A finished bridge before 2013 is therefore unlikely to happen. This must certainly mean that the Bridge Co. is going to be around for a long time. No one has the guts, I believe, to expropriate their business at the existing bridge!
It also means that Windsor is in a tough bind for the truck traffic that will build up gradually between now and 2020. Where is it going to go....just to one spot, the existing bridge (with the 200 booths). How is it going to get there? AHHHH that's the rub!
This City should NOT tolerate trucks going down Huron Church for the next 15 years even if there are no line-ups. The only answer that I can see realistically is to build the City's WALTS road (ie the road which the the Bridge Co. proved that it worked by its Ring Road) which was supported in effect by the Schwartz Report and endorsed and supported unanimously by the Mayor and Council (until the change of heart last Monday at Council it seems).
There is the half kilometre or so that needs completion (the missing yellow spot on the map). Grin and bear it and deal with it because it is coming. Frankly, what other choice do we have since there will be no bridge for the foreseeable future and Cansult finished off the Schwartz Horseshoe road. We need a completed link to the Ambassador Bridge!
What the Mayor and Council should be forcing and, what Windsorites should be demanding, is that our Governments finally complete Highway 401 to the Ambassador Bridge. They must build immediately the WALTS/Bi-national/Schwartz/City road and add in the missing link to the Bridge so that Sandwich is not impacted negatively. They MUST spend whatever is required to do so in the most effective manner for the Community! That should be the NUMBER 1 issue in the federal election.
This is what the City should be fighting for and not another starting point or option out of a City Hall that has been strangely quiet since the Bi-national made its opinion known. Or is David Estrin being geared up to spend more taxpayer money on a useless and expensive cause so that our local leaders can pretend they are doing something
posted by JoeBlog at 11:10 a.m.
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