DRTP: Tunnel BBQed

Lots of creative people in Windsor it seems. Perhaps they should have been used to come up with a new slogan for Windsor rather than "Love this place."

In reading the Star this morning, I see that TBQ's owner, Thom Racovitis speaking at a Tunnel forum last night wanted to call the truck Tunnel to the border "The Trunnel." Also, someone proposed to call the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel "The Dunnel" rather than use the proposed name that Detroit Council wanted to name it. These are take-offs on the Chunnel.

Another new name for a Tunnel too. Mike Hurst and his band of groupies should feel mighty angry this morning. After all he gave a speech too last night at the forum but the Star did not cover it. Had the Star reported it, you would have known that the DRTP has morphed again from the Tradeway to the Jobs Tunnel to the Green Solution.

Whatever you want, there DRTP is.

It can be "at grade" as it originally was described that needs no hugely expensive costs to build at all (Mike really does need to read his lawyer's submission to the OMB Rail lands hearing before giving another public presentation in order to know that there may be no "sensitive lands" along the DRTP corridor that require a tunnel. So why is he promoting a tunnel costing billions).

It can be tunnelled at a cost of at least $2 billion according to DRTP's Marge Byington at the Lansing hearings. I am not sure how many lanes that price covers since Hurst said yesterday the DRTP Tunnel can be 2 lanes or 3 lanes or 4 lanes or 5 lanes or 6 lanes or probably however many lanes anyone can dream up. If only 2 lanes cost $2 billion, what would the cost be for the DRIC desired 6 lane truck expressway?

Of course I did not hear Mike offer to pay for a new tunnel as part of his pitch. In fact, I did not hear him tell us that taxpayers would have to pay for it because that could be the killer for that project. I know DRTP needed $150 million of taxpayer money for the old project. Does that mean he wants $2.15 billion now from taxpayers at least?

It can be a "truck toll road" now too, as his lawyer said at the OMB hearings, to pay the cost. Mike might have turned ashen if he heard that. Let's see now, how many truckers would pay a toll to DRTP to use a very long underground tunnel from Highway 401 to the border when the alternative is to use the above-ground route to the Ambassador Bridge at no cost. Given that, who would finance the project when it would have little revenue? [Hmmm Maybe DRTP has been pushing for BillC-3 to force trucks to use their corridor and pay extra. Oh well, that will just chase industry to use the Blue Water Bridge instead to completely ruin our local economy and cost us more jobs!]

Now I felt sorry for the OMERS Pensioners and contributors and CP shareholders who had to pay for DRTP to be at the session last night. I do not know if DRTP paid for the room beside the main meeting hall at the Holiday Inn where they had the promotional materials set up giving out their newest story. It must have cost more than a few dollars to make up the new display boards with the newest DRTP border talk. Then there were all the handouts and the big poster in the main room. And their presentation, slick as it could be. It must have taken some time and effort to produce and to rehearse (Before you throw stones at me, "slick" means "Deftly executed" not just "Superficially attractive or plausible but lacking depth or soundness" according to the Dictionary)

In reality, DRTP really only needed 2 slides last night so that people would understand what their purpose is now, in my opinion, respecting their corridor.

The first slide was their traffic volumes one. They admitted that traffic volumes were down significantly and that it was unlikely that they were going to grow significantly (as DRIC has claimed). Of course, one could then argue then that DRTP was not needed at all since the bridge is only at around 50% capacity but why should I be the one to dampen Mike's enthusiasm.

At the least though, they were agreeing with their mortal enemy the Bridge Co. and thereby suggesting a new crossing need not be built. Does that make sense for a border crossing proponet you might well ask?

Then the second slide showed a big yellow line to the border (But Mike knows that this old DRTP project is really dead) but there was now a new line that I did not remember seeing before from them: down the DRTP corridor from Highway 401 to a cutoff at College and then westward leading to a road to the Ambassador Bridge.

What's that you say, DRTP being the new access road to the Ambassador Bridge!

What a shocker! I wondered about that but then I recalled the Chair of the meeting gushing over a statement from the Bridge Co. prepared for the meeting. It was a nice letter stating what they had already said publicly but nothing dramatic. Perhaps it was new to him. He also asked for the slide with the new route to be brought back up for the crowd to see it again.

I had asked myself: why didn't DRTP just go quietly to visit PM Harper and the new Tranpsort Minister, his Lieutenant from Quebec, Lawrence Cannon, to try and negotiate this deal. DRTP have great political connections. I suspect that DRTP probably knew they could not get anywhere since if billions are to be spent, then the Conservatives could spend it either in Windsor on a tunnel and maybe get 2 seats or spend it in Quebec and get dozens and get a majority Government! And which would you choose if you were Harper and Cannon?

It all fell into place then for me. DRTP project was dead. DRTP corridor is on its last gasp. What choice did DRTP have then but to try to pressure the Bridge Co. to try and get them to help them either by partnering with them or buying out their corridor. They need to get their money back somehow.

Imagine. Can you picture Mike Hurst begging his biggest foe, both when he was Mayor and their competitor as Chair of the Windsor Tunnel Commission and now as ex-Mayor and CEO of DTRP their opponent for a new crossing, for help. Isn't that DRTP's only answer now?

Interestingly, if one reads the Ambasador Bridge Co.'s Enhancement Project submission, they leave it for Government to figure out how to get trucks to their crossing. They got burned before when they offered a solution and obviously learned from that experience.

So here we go again... potentially more conflicts in Windsor, potentially more fights between neighbourhoods.

Isn't it time that Eddie and Council stop the BS about "quality of life" that they are trying to use to salvage their three year failure on the border and do something to fix the road to the bridge already! Or else I can think of a new slogan using the word "change" in it!