Here We Go Again

I just took a few days off to recharge my batteries so I did not post a BLOG for the past few days. But I am back now and so I see is the DRTP CEO.

Mike Hurst is still trying to get someone to buy or use the DRTP corridor so that OMERS and CP Rail can recoup some of the millions wasted in their original plan that was rejected in Windsor and by Schwartz and DRIC as well.

I know that they did a Community Information Session last night but I was unable to go. If it was similar to the presentation they did at the recent tunnel conference, then it was pretty slick. They even had a slide of a truck in it with "Rails to Trails" painted on it! Now that is timely and sucks up to the Mayor too! Can you believe it, both Eddie and Mike both talking tunnels at the same time.

You remember DRTP don't you as originally conceived: an intrusive truck expressway through the heart of Windsor with a golf-coursed sized U.S./Canada Customs plaza on the Canadian side. I guess that the criticism of the project by many Windsorites was bang on because now DRTP has been transformed into the "Green Solution" which will "build a corridor and new crossing that is virtually invisible."

I really do not intend spending much more time on DRTP when one of the senior Transport Canada officials in a Letter to the Editor in the Windsor Star identified already where the corridor is going [Blog Border Bunch July 9, 2006]. It is NOT going down the DRTP corridor!

Moreover, I am still of the view that, even if that corridor was picked, a tunnel would never be built because of the huge cost and we would wind up being stuck with a truck expressway above ground.

There are a number of reasons why I don't think the DRTP serves a purpose any longer. Here are a few questions for you to ask Mike to answer next time if you attend one of his performances. Let me know how he responds:

1. How much will the DRTP Green Solution cost to build and who will finance it? If DRTP needed $150 million of taxpayer money to build their original plan, how much more would be needed now? If OMERS/Borealis has so much cash to throw around in the UK to buy ports, will it finance the entire project and if not, why not?
2. Does DRTP have a business plan that shows that the project can compete sucessfully and actually make money? (I see that, according to Bloomberg news, "Eurotunnel SA, which operates the rail link between the U.K. and France, will pursue bankruptcy protection after talks to restructure 6.2 billion pounds ($11.4 billon) of debt collapsed.")
3. Given that DRTP lost in the Rail Lands By-law hearing, how do they intend to build their tunnel without the proper zoning? If they apply for rezoning, do they really think they will get it?
4. Has DRTP shown yet to the US Highways Authority how they can connect to I-75?
5. Has Detroit sold to DRTP yet the lands they need in that City to connect to I-75?

By the way, if you want to get an idea of what it would be like for a truck driver to drive through a tunnel the length of the one being proposed by DRTP, head out of Windsor along Highway 401 to the new road construction area. One of the routes under construction is about 15 Km long and one way in each direction. Try and stay behind one of the big transport trucks to get a feeling about it.

Are you claustrophobic? Imagine that you were in an enclosed tunnel for that distance rather than in open air with concrete barriers beside you. As you see the truck swaying every so often from side-to-side, you figure out the consequences of one small moment of driver inattention.