BEWARE: Windsor Has Moles
It's always gratifying to receive an email from a reader with comments about a BLOG I have written or a suggestion about what I should write or even providing me with some background information.
But when a reader actually writes a BLOG, now that is spoiling me rotten. Here is what one reader thinks about tunnels and megaprojects.
BEWARE: Windsor Has Moles
"I read with great interest the Star article about the Choose Tunneling group and about the “cost savings” in the long run of a tunnel. Let’s ignore for a moment the immediately preceding Blog on “Machiavellian Megaprojects” (which fully applies to be sure, just play along)… and let’s assume that we spend many millions on a mineshaft to the border to “save” $2.5 B in the long run … and finally, let’s assume just for fun that Eddie rises in the polls (by going “under”) and is re-elected… Only an advocate kept in the dark like a mole would propose such a thing with a straight face!
What common sense do we have to ignore to accept a tunnel to the border at all costs?
Redundancy – You can’t have just ONE route to the border, you would have to dig several. Schwartz, DRIC & Borderline Insecurity would all agree. I mean, come on, there would be no security checks prior to descending into Windsor’s underworld. And there is only ONE place these evil, un-inspected international trucks would be going. Talk about a tasty target! Don’t worry about terrorist engineers wracking their brains to topple a new crossing, just send a rented truck with fertilizer & diesel fuel to the Windsor Underworld. One tunnel to the border would be futile, and since there were “twin towers” at least THREE separate tunnels to the border would be required. (Wait-on September 11, the Pentagon was hit and the White House was targeted – why not 5 or 6 tunnels, just to be safe. Price is obviously no object because we don’t know how much ONE costs…)
Come on, all it would take is one little fender-bender 80,000 leagues below to tie up border traffic for hours. No escape for multi-kilometre backups if you were behind a breakdown (can’t hang a left to avoid delay…) The leader of the Choose Tunneling group fears that we will be “creating a surface superhighway.” Excuse me, but, err, ahhh, but we already ARE on a superhighway corridor, just without the infrastructure… How many other multi-kilometre tunnels are along the 401? I-75? I-94? Exactly: NONE, and with good reason.
Perhaps this Choose Tunneling gambit is just a ruse because besides the Windsor Star who faithfully publishes the virtues, who really believes it is feasible, affordable or possible in our life time? Is the goal to make Windsor the laughing stock of civil engineering conferences throughout the world? (Yeah, and you thought the diagonal and “S” bridges were creative… City Council would ultimately HAVE to pass one of Eddie’s in-camera resolutions to suspend the laws of physics.)
Have you ever seen the gigantic fans that circulate fresh air into the Windsor Tunnel? Apply this exponentially to the multi-kilometre Windsor Underground, and ask where they would be located? What impact would the noise & location have on property values? And what of the concentration of offensive diesel fumes concentrated around giga-fans? Are we to assume “out of sight, out of mind” or should we apply common sense and realize that after hundreds of millions spent on a tunnel that we still have air quality issues in our beloved Camelot?
Oh I forgot, it's not a problem. After all the Tunnel Ventilation Building on University is a Windsor "heritage" building. With the need for many of such buildings along the corridor and in keeping with the Sandwich area proposed designation, expect Council to turn the corridor into a "heritage" area too!
Navigate through all that and you are still left on the horns of a dilemma: Local Origin International trucks. Oh, yeah – almost overlooked that didn’t we? Choose Tunneling assumes a trail to the border will eliminate unsightly trucks from the border to the 401. But DRIC quietly documented (validating WALTS and other confirming studies) that over ONE THIRD of these evil international trucks are LOCAL in origin or destination. A million trucks today have the audacity to serve employers in Windsor. I’m sure with a little more clandestine economic development headlines for our beloved Mayor, that we can drive these numbers DOWN as well. But if we want employment locally, manufacturers need parts & materials and that means trucks. If we want consumer choice, our stores will have to obtain stock for their shelves, and that means glorious trucks. If we want food, it is not going to materialize in our refrigerator – again, trucks. And an Underground Windsor Tunnel would add wasteful miles (and cost) for our local quality of life.
I have an easier solution: Road signs. I must admit, it would require quite a few both at the city limits and along the 401. The message could say, “Turn Back – Trucks not Welcome in Windsor” or “DANGER: City with its head in the sand ahead.” After all, Sarnia loves trucks, and Windsor is helping them tremendously"
But when a reader actually writes a BLOG, now that is spoiling me rotten. Here is what one reader thinks about tunnels and megaprojects.
BEWARE: Windsor Has Moles
"I read with great interest the Star article about the Choose Tunneling group and about the “cost savings” in the long run of a tunnel. Let’s ignore for a moment the immediately preceding Blog on “Machiavellian Megaprojects” (which fully applies to be sure, just play along)… and let’s assume that we spend many millions on a mineshaft to the border to “save” $2.5 B in the long run … and finally, let’s assume just for fun that Eddie rises in the polls (by going “under”) and is re-elected… Only an advocate kept in the dark like a mole would propose such a thing with a straight face!
What common sense do we have to ignore to accept a tunnel to the border at all costs?
Redundancy – You can’t have just ONE route to the border, you would have to dig several. Schwartz, DRIC & Borderline Insecurity would all agree. I mean, come on, there would be no security checks prior to descending into Windsor’s underworld. And there is only ONE place these evil, un-inspected international trucks would be going. Talk about a tasty target! Don’t worry about terrorist engineers wracking their brains to topple a new crossing, just send a rented truck with fertilizer & diesel fuel to the Windsor Underworld. One tunnel to the border would be futile, and since there were “twin towers” at least THREE separate tunnels to the border would be required. (Wait-on September 11, the Pentagon was hit and the White House was targeted – why not 5 or 6 tunnels, just to be safe. Price is obviously no object because we don’t know how much ONE costs…)
Come on, all it would take is one little fender-bender 80,000 leagues below to tie up border traffic for hours. No escape for multi-kilometre backups if you were behind a breakdown (can’t hang a left to avoid delay…) The leader of the Choose Tunneling group fears that we will be “creating a surface superhighway.” Excuse me, but, err, ahhh, but we already ARE on a superhighway corridor, just without the infrastructure… How many other multi-kilometre tunnels are along the 401? I-75? I-94? Exactly: NONE, and with good reason.
Perhaps this Choose Tunneling gambit is just a ruse because besides the Windsor Star who faithfully publishes the virtues, who really believes it is feasible, affordable or possible in our life time? Is the goal to make Windsor the laughing stock of civil engineering conferences throughout the world? (Yeah, and you thought the diagonal and “S” bridges were creative… City Council would ultimately HAVE to pass one of Eddie’s in-camera resolutions to suspend the laws of physics.)
Have you ever seen the gigantic fans that circulate fresh air into the Windsor Tunnel? Apply this exponentially to the multi-kilometre Windsor Underground, and ask where they would be located? What impact would the noise & location have on property values? And what of the concentration of offensive diesel fumes concentrated around giga-fans? Are we to assume “out of sight, out of mind” or should we apply common sense and realize that after hundreds of millions spent on a tunnel that we still have air quality issues in our beloved Camelot?
Oh I forgot, it's not a problem. After all the Tunnel Ventilation Building on University is a Windsor "heritage" building. With the need for many of such buildings along the corridor and in keeping with the Sandwich area proposed designation, expect Council to turn the corridor into a "heritage" area too!
Navigate through all that and you are still left on the horns of a dilemma: Local Origin International trucks. Oh, yeah – almost overlooked that didn’t we? Choose Tunneling assumes a trail to the border will eliminate unsightly trucks from the border to the 401. But DRIC quietly documented (validating WALTS and other confirming studies) that over ONE THIRD of these evil international trucks are LOCAL in origin or destination. A million trucks today have the audacity to serve employers in Windsor. I’m sure with a little more clandestine economic development headlines for our beloved Mayor, that we can drive these numbers DOWN as well. But if we want employment locally, manufacturers need parts & materials and that means trucks. If we want consumer choice, our stores will have to obtain stock for their shelves, and that means glorious trucks. If we want food, it is not going to materialize in our refrigerator – again, trucks. And an Underground Windsor Tunnel would add wasteful miles (and cost) for our local quality of life.
I have an easier solution: Road signs. I must admit, it would require quite a few both at the city limits and along the 401. The message could say, “Turn Back – Trucks not Welcome in Windsor” or “DANGER: City with its head in the sand ahead.” After all, Sarnia loves trucks, and Windsor is helping them tremendously"
posted by JoeBlog at 11:10 a.m.
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