Road Warriors

All of this hand-wringing about Manning Road. Fingers being pointed at who is responsible and who is doing what and what political favours are being paid. It is all very funny don't you think.

I keep talking about the amnesia disease at City Hall but it is clear that the Medical Officer of Health needs to do a thorough investigation and if necessary cleanse the building from what is causing this pandemic.

The issue with respect to international trucks on EC Row has to do with DRTP and everyone including the Mayor knows it. The concern about the use of the Expressway was that it would lead first to the building of the DRTP North and then would create a demand for the building of DRTP South.

The issue now with respect to the use of the Expressway as the main corridor to the Ambassador Bridge is a phony one since it is very clear that the DRIC road continues a history of using that corridor as the route to the Ambassador Bridge since 1929. It is absolutely impossible for DRIC to now reverse itself and use the Expressway as the main road since it would mean restarting the entire Environmental Assessment process. That road has never been considered by DRIC as the border road. Of course, I expect that the Expressway will be used as the redundant road to the bridge once the Province uploads it and upgrades it to 8-10 lanes.

One very important note just in passing. It is now absolutely clear as I have suggested before that the road condition of the Expressway is very serious and requires immediate maintenance befoer something could happen. Remember I had asked the question why certain parts of the Expressway were being asphalted. I wondered whether there was a concern that ice freezing and thawing cycles over the winter could cause severe damage at certain overpasses.

I believe I am right. The City is looking for money from the Province for bridge rehabilitation on the Expressway. Administration's comment to justify the request is frightening:

• "deteriorated structural condition of these bridges makes this a high priority in terms of public safety...value for money is high"

Is EC Row safe or isn't it?

In my opinion it is disingenuous to use timing and sequencing as a justification for preventing the building of Manning Road. If it is the City's position that Montréal-to-Tijuana international trucks should never used the Expressway, then why does Eddie say that Manning can be built after Greenlink is built. Isn't there a real risk that half of the so-called 30,000 trucks that Eddie keeps talking about would use EC Row to the disadvantage of residents? That volume is significantly higher than the total volume today. [Where Eddie gets that 30,000 number from, I have no idea. The total volume todays is less than half of that]

That is why it was necessary to defer Agenda Items #5 & #6 from the previous meeting on the roads since those items were the recommendation of Administration to do an EA on Lauzon. If that was done, then obviously the City would be advocating that international trucks use the Expressway, a position that Eddie is not prepared to concede at this time.

Let's be real about who is responsible for what is going on. It is the Mayor and Sam Schwartz. They were the ones who added in Manning Road and Lauzon Parkway to the first Schwartz Report. It was not necessary to do so but the Mayor did it for political reasons as he said on Face-to-Face to get the County on-side. The County politicians outsmarted him, pure and simple. His decision has turned around and bit him in the you know where and he doesn't like it. He is trying desperately to divert our attention away from his mistake.

His historical revision about road construction phases is not justified by Sam's Report either as he well knows. With the Cansult destruction of the Horseshoe Road, Sam's phasing went out the window. Moreover Sam's first report has long been rejected as the City's position. How then can Eddie hold the County to a Resolution the basis of which has disappeared? In addition, as I wrote recently, when one looks at what Sam said and at his five phases, the building of Manning Road came before the completion of the road between Highway 401 to the border. In other words it came before Greenlink.

No matter how many times Eddie pretends to set out what the position is, it is not correct in my opinion. I'm tired of him refusing to take the blame for his mistakes.

But this whole matter that is causing such a controversy is not about highways and roads and expressways. We need some honesty here. It's all about money....for the Tunnel and for future development opportunities such as construction of an Intermodal hub. That was exemplified by the Mayor running to Germany. Where will that hub be located, in Windsor at the airport or just off of Manning Road in Tecumseh?

The Manning Road discussion is nothing more than a diversion. The County politicians thought that they would try to make a go of it in the event that they could outmanoeuver the City of Windsor. The Province has no desire to build on Manning no matter what Dwight says. Their preferred corridor is in fact Lauzon. If you want proof of that just go to the Report that started all of this, the Joint Management Committee Report back in 2002, and try and find a recommendation with respect to Manning Road.

The building of Manning was opened up by the Mayor for his short-term political purposes and now the Province is using it to try to pressure the Mayor to build Lauzon. The Mayor has no choice but to do so if he wants his airport hub to ever be built.

But there is more to this than meets the eye as well. On the agenda on Monday will be the issues re trucks on Dougall Avenue and on Wyandotte. However, it is the add-on about trucks on McDougall that gives it all away.

In effect, trucks have to remain on McDougall since it houses the Customs facility for secondary inspection for trucks that use the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel. The City owns that facility and would lose revenue if it was no longer used.

The report goes on to say that there really is no other good alternative route to the Tunnel other than McDougall. If McDougall is closed and the other roads are not appropriate then obviously trucks will not go to the Tunnel. The Tunnel does not get a lot of trucks but the tolls that they pay make up a very significant part of the revenues of the Tunnel. The Tunnel is in such a horrible financial position that they cannot afford to lose that revenue.

How will the trucks get to the Tunnel? One way is to go north on Dougall. Another way is to go on Wyandotte. Do you see what I'm getting at? Councillor Dilkens cannot get what he wants. It is all to do with money and not the needs of residents. I find this rather strange since they City has always taken the position publicly that the Tunnel is viewed as a "public utility" and not as a commercial operation that produces revenue like a crossing owned by a private operator.

The real question to be answered is how do you keep international trucks on the road to the bridge and off City streets. The obvious answer is to make the border road attractive to them so they will NOT want to seek an alternative route, something that we have been trying to do here for 5 years and who knows how much more while our Mayor stalls. Fix the border road and that fixes the local streets issue.

That's what I like about Windsor. Even the simplest of matters is so tied up with politics and hidden agendas and disagreements between Administration and Council and politicians at all levels that it is no wonder that nothing gets done.