So You Think We Are Getting A DRIC Road

Of course we are.

Just like the Delray Community will become a great place to live in Michigan after the new bridge goes through their community after looking at the conceptual drawings DRIC provided.

• "MDOT, in partnership with FHWA is exploring a number of concepts by which enhancements may be made to the Delray area as it becomes the “host community” for the DRIC project. These concepts include partnering with the private sector and with other government agencies in areas such as job training, small business development, improving and replacing housing stock, and other community enhancing amenities."

But you have to watch out for those pesky disclaimers such as the one in the bottom left corner of that design:

They do not promise to do anything because legally MDOT cannot, the City of Detroit has no money to do anything and it will depend on private enterprise to redevelop the community when to date private enterprise has shown no interest in doing so.

Promises, promises. It was all a dream designed to shut opponents up until it was too late to complain.

Take a look at the Sarnia story from the London Free Press below. They are getting $26M for 2 lanes of concrete for a 16 km road to the border with no environmental assessment and we are getting $1.6B for a DRIC road of almost the same length with an EA that has gone on for eternity and has another year or two to go still.

We will get the DRIC road when pigs can fly! We are getting an upgraded E C Row expanded to at least 8 lanes uploaded by the Province. Don't fool yourself thinking otherwise. Windsorites have been Delrayed!

I wonder when the Sarnia Mayor will demand a tunnel or a Greenlink equivalent for his road to the bridge too. His City is being short-changed by the Senior Levels by almost $1.5B for heaven's sake. I am sure that Sarnia can use the money too being a "host community" for international trucks as well.

I think Eddie gave away the game at Council on Monday. If Eddie is right, and he probably is because he knows a good part of what will really happen given his position as Mayor, we will never get a DRIC road. The DRIC process was designed to fail so that their road never gets EA approval and never gets built. And the Governments do not waste money on a road that is 10 times too expensive to build. The closest we will get to it is the animation of it on DVD!

Karl Marx was wrong----Artist's renditions and animations are the opiate of the masses!

• 402 truck waiting lanes decried
  
  Sun, May 11, 2008
  
  BORDER TRAFFIC WOES: Sarnia opponents of a highway-widening plan cite congestion, environmental concerns
  By CHIP MARTIN
  
  A 16-kilometre-long "parking lot" full of idling trucks waiting to cross the Blue Water Bridge at Sarnia?
  
  That prospect has Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley and environmentalists decrying the just-approved addition of two truck lanes for Highway 402 from the bridge east to Mandaumin Road.
  
  The extra lanes, specifically for border-bound trucks, are part of the Ontario government's road-widening plan, estimated to cost $26 million.
  
  Border backlogs often plug up traffic for kilometres east of the Blue Water Bridge.
  
  The extra air pollution from adding more traffic lines, in an area known for bad air, has led several residents to plead for a full environmental assessment.
  
  But Environment Minister John Gerretsen has rejected that, paving the way for the project's go-ahead.
  
  "A generation from now will curse this generation if this project proceeds," says Bradley, a longtime opponent of the highway-widening plan. He prefers a truck-marshalling site away from the urban area, where rigs could wait out border congestion.
  
  Port Huron, Mich., across the border, needs an expanded border entry, but that won't happen for several years.
  
  The Michigan city must be pleased, Bradley said: "We become their parking lot, their marshalling yard, with no significant economic benefit."
  
  Last week, MPP Bob Bailey (PC - Sarnia-Lambton) said he was told the widening will proceed. The Transportation Ministry has yet to make any announcement.
  
  Federal Industry Minister Jim Prentice has urged the U.S to put more money into facilities to speed traffic at border crossings.
  
  Robert Swift of Point Edward, one of several citizens who pushed for a full environmental assessment (EA), is bitterly disappointed, noting it will add more bad-air diesel emissions to "the heart of our community."
  
  "Shame on all of them," he said of the McGuinty government and groups like the local chamber of commerce and Blue Water Bridge Authority who pushed the plan.
  
  Swift argued no case can be made for the expansion. "There is no pressing need for the two dedicated truck lanes, given the ever-decreasing volume of trucks crossing the bridge over the past four years," he said.
  
  He received a letter from Gerretsen this week rejecting calls for an EA. Gerretsen said air quality will be monitored once the road is widened.
  
  Bradley said he's disappointed a provincial government that says it cares about the environment by banning pesticides, promoting recycling and cleaning up toxic sites is pushing this project.
  
  In Windsor, city officials have environmental concerns about a proposed $1.6-billion, below-grade border entry, but they favour an alternative plan, arguing it will produce fewer emissions.
  
  "Both communities are saying we are not going to put economic development ahead of our health," Bradley said.