A second Peace Bridge? Not here in Buffalo

There are plans for a second Peace Bridge in Canada!

Unfortunately this bridge isn’t going to benefit Canadians heading to Buffalo for shopping, dining, or watching T.O. (yes, that T.O., Terrell Owens, the Buffalo Bills’ new wide receiver), nor Americans heading to Southern Ontario’s Wine Country, Niagara-on-the-Lake, or the great city of Toronto.

No, the second Peace Bridge in Canada isn’t the one connecting Fort Erie and Buffalo where long-heated plans for building a second bridge to alleviate traffic and improve security between the U.S. and Canada has cooled off and gone nowhere.

This bridge is a pedestrian bridge in the City of Calgary and is designed for commuters. Construction for the bridge is expected to begin this fall, with completion in 2010.

The Calgary City Council approved the bridge in September 2008. Now, that’s fast compared to deadlocked plans to build a second Peace Bridge, between the Fort Erie and Buffalo, began in 1992!

Construction for the U.S.-Canada “companion” bridge was expected to begin in 1999. But the City of Buffalo wouldn’t grant land easements and the public was upset about bridge designs, potential air quality problems, and losing their park land and neighborhood.

Lawsuits ensued, and now, 10 years later, we still don’t have any definitive action about a second Peace Bridge — that is, in Buffalo. The Peace Bridge plaza, where cars and trucks are inspected for entry into the States, needs help. A refreshing facelift is currently in progress, but “the requirement to improve border functionality, capacity, and security remains,” according to the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority.

Click here to read an article about it in Buffalo Business First.