Is Support For A Tunnel, Support For DRTP

I was surprised to read the new Press Release sent out by DRTP on Friday: "Tunneling in the Detroit River Tunnel Partnership's Rail Corridor." It really said nothing new but should make people concerned about the big push being made to build a tunnel. It got me wondering if there was more to this than meets the eye.

I find it so interesting that all of a sudden a tunnel is the answer to our problems. I wonder why Gridlock Sam did not mention it prominently in his Report as the way to go. Why didn't the Mayor and Council come out with this idea back in January, 2005 and rally us for this so that they could have had a multi-billion dollar short-term dream. Why are they supporting a tunnel so strongly now other than the obvious reasons that they have failed on everything to do with the border and now need something to get re-elected."

While I am not a great fan of DRIC from the "political" perspective, I take seriously the comment "An underground truck route has been deemed difficult by the bureaucrats and engineers because of potential costs, soil conditions, underground infrastructure and the inability of finding an alternative traffic route during lengthy construction."

As an example, The Cansult Limited report stated:

• "using a conservative estimate of $100M (CAN) per km (based on the Alberta LRT tunnelling project cost), however, would yield a cost of at least $65M for a single tunnel, or $130M for a twin tunnel and potentially much higher. It is reasonable to expect the cost of construction for an urban at-grade truck bypass (including property acquisition costs) to be in the order of $10 – 15M per km. Therefore, the total cost of construction for a two tube truck bypass should be expected to cost at least $200M and, with reasonable contingencies factored in (together with the premium cost of such a short section of tunnel), could easily reach a cost of over $200M. If all three tunnels of the ultimate Schwartz-proposed tunnel were constructed, the cost of construction could easily exceed $300M. For the same $200 - $300M expenditure for constructing a potentially short-term 8 km truck bypass, a six-lane urban at-grade freeway of anywhere between 14 – 30 km (depending upon the details of the alignment) could be constructed in a location suitable for the long-term border crossing ultimately selected by the DRIC project."

Frankly, I thought DRTP would have stayed in the background a bit longer until everyone in town was demanding a tunnel, not just a few Talbot Road people. Then Mike Hurst could have come out as our saviour. Thank goodness Mike's sense of timing for issuing a press release is about as good as that of his US colleague. Remember Marge Byington's press relase and interview attacking Kwame days before he won the election!

Now everyone should know that behind the concept of tunnelling, is the risk of the building of DRTP! If that does not kill the idea of a tunnel, then nothing will.

The man who was front and center on the border fight as Chair of STOPDRTP was Councillor Dave Brister. He received more votes than any other Councillor when he ran for office because of his role. Wouldn't it be ironic if his macho "sue the government and tie up the border plan" outburst and support for a tunnel actually gave ENCOURAGEMENT to the building of DRTP right through his Ward. Isn't it ironic as well that he is now a "champion" of the Talbot Road residents!

I must admit that I am not sure yet what my position on a tunnel is and, if I thought it was a good idea, where it should be built. But it is not as easy a decision to make as one would think. As an example, in Saturday's Star, a gentleman wrote in the Letters to the Editor section

• "Picture a new border-crossing route that has the truck plaza out on the 401 and the entire route through the city as a direct underground tunnel to Detroit."

That seems to make good sense doesn't it? Staging area and tunnel, what could be more perfect! Let's look at that idyllic scene if one were a local international trucker and a business person.

Assuming that the trucker picked up a load downtown, then the trucker would have to go out to the truck plaza on Highway 401 (presumably to clear customs) and then travel in the "secured" tunnel to go over the bridge to the US. Let's say the distance between the border and the plaza is 10 miles. At a cost of $1.25 per mile, the trucker would pay out an extra $25 for that litle trip and charge that to the shipper or as much as the market allowed him to do so. (10 miles out and 10 miles back)

Of the 3+ million trucks that cross over the Bridge, about 1/3 are local international or say 1 million. Our idyllic solution has just cost the local truckers and the local economy a penalty of about $25 million that international trucks would not have to bear. Instead of the road system helping our economy as it was supposed to do, it hurts it!

And if that trucker had a load from the US to the downtown, he/she would still have to drive it seems to that Highway 401 plaza and then drive back into the downtown. This hardly makes much sense and provides little incentive to build a new plant here. Even if the routing I am setting out is incorrect, it could also mean that a million trucks a year are still not going to use a tunnel!

DRTP's actions can divide communities but now DRTP is targetting Mr. STOPDRTP to put pressure on him to support their effort or risk losing his Council seat:

• "The Detroit River Tunnel Partnership previously announced on April 7, 2005 that after listening to the community, it was prepared to work with governments to tunnel all or substantial parts of its rail corridor, including the south end from the 401 to EC Row."

While DRTP would tunnel everything (or rather while DRTP would let the Governments pay everything for tunnelling), DRTP at least wants those rich and loud-mouthed South Windsorites to know that they are not at risk since they can have a tunnel. If they do not get it and if DRTP is built, then it is Mr. STOPDRTP who is at fault so blame him! Otherwise, it is just the poor in Ward 2 who can have trucks in their backyards since they do not complain and if they do, who listens to them.

As Chair of STOPDRTP, Dave refused a park and green space in the south to say NO to DRTP North and South. Will he be that brave now and risk being defeated if he does not favour a tunnel in the whole DRTP corridor so that the South is still at risk?

In the end, what this all means is that we are so wrapped up in tunnelling that we are not looking at the big picture: the road system in Windsor. Eddie is again looking short-term (to his own re-election), as with the Schwartz Report, and is ignoring the long-term need of the region.

Our roads need improvement regardless whether we build a new crossing or not and regardless where it is located. Making tough decisions on roads is a lot harder than rallying for tunnels. But then again, weren't Mr. STOPDRTP and Eddie part of the billion dollar short-term dream crowd rallying for Schwartz, Schwartz, Schwartz! What else should we expect of them!