Thinking About It For 47 Years
In 1964, the idea of building a third crossing over the Cataraqui River was presented. In 1970, Mayor Val Swain tried to build the bridge, and on March 31, 2011, a public meeting was held to present the designs for a third crossing and hear what the public had to say.
It’s all part of the Environmental Assessment (EA) that considers the environmental, social, cultural, economic, heritage, archaeological, geo-technical, hydro-technical and traffic implications of building a Third Crossing.
The majority of the field studies required as part of the EA have been completed with the Marine Archaeology study scheduled to begin this spring.
A fourth Public Information Centre is scheduled for the last quarter of 2011. Soon afterwards, the first draft of the Stage 2 Environment Study Report (ESR) is expected to be submitted for Council’s consideration and approval.
An approved ESR does not commit Council to begin the detailed design work necessary for construction. The ESR allows the current and future Councils to plan for long-term growth and development programs and offers the ability to apply for funding from senior levels of government.
Kingston East residents are divided in their opinions. Stan Segel, a Pointe St. Mark resident is concerned that drivers will use the residential streets as a short cut to get to the bridge. “They’re going to tear through here in the morning as well as in the evening,” Stan said.
“We were against it at first,” said Mary Jane Phillips, “But now we’re for it, because Brian Reitzel explained that the city won’t be on the hook for the cost of the entire project.” She went on to say, “Maybe it should be a toll bridge, so we can recoup the cost.”
According to J.L. Richards’ Environmental Assessment plan, we’re at step 3 of Phase 3. The next step will be to evaluate the alternative designs and make a recommendation.
The reality of the situation is that the Federal and Provincial Governments are likely to front a portion of the cost once the city seeks out funding from them. The bridge will only become more necessary as the city expands and will only go up in cost the longer we wait. The idea of taxing a portion of the city while owning no land route to that portion of the city makes no economical sense. As traffic congestion builds residents from both sides will avoid the downtown area in favor of avoiding the traffic issues altogether. This will lead to a further decline in the city core and the loss of money that could have been spent downtown as residents seek the easier route to other parts of the city. The 401 is provincially owned and is not intended for city traffic. The LaSalle Causeway is long past its expected life and is federally owned. The other crossing at the Kingston Mills Road by the locks is a heritage site and federally owned. With that being said the city needs to purchase, own and maintain its own crossing to allow better flow to and from all parts of the city.
“We can debate something to death, we can study something to death, but in the end the need will drive the decision.”
What we need to know is how is a third crossing going to fix anything? Has anyone driven down Montreal street during rush hour? No better than Hwy 15. So we will be connecting two congested roads together. How does that accomplish anything? People will still have to get down to RMC and the base, or downtown on the other side. Hwy 15 traffic typically starts south of Gore rd. People thinking that this will do anything to alleviate the problem are shortsighted.
As for the funding, all we need to do is seek 100-150 million dollars from the federal and provincial government. Aren’t they broke? When was the last time they gave this sort of money to a municipality for an infrastructure project. Taking a look at recent grants (excluding the stimulus fund money) the average grant is $2.5 million. That won’t even give us the first foundation.
What we need to do is get a North entrance to the base at Gore rd, re-time the lights along 15 and 2, and put our dreams away. This could be done for a couple million dollars. If you want to spend more, twin Hwy 15 and Hwy 2. Twin the causeway eventually, but I think we will find this is not necessary. I can think of a lot of good projects to fund with the remaining $100M.
The fact is that all streets are busy during rush hour, that is why it is called rush hour. However we only add to the problem by forcing people to take routes that force them out and around their final destination. The city has been looking into the third crossing for so long because many traffic experts over the years have stated it is a necessity and traffic will only get worse if it is not built. The fact that the city has been debating it for so long indicates it has been a solution on the table for many years. It has been studied and debated to death, now is the time for affirmative action, now is the time to say enough is enough. It is time for a third crossing or if you will Kingston’s first city owned crossing. We can re-time the lights except that the timing of the lights is already timed and controlled by programmable logic controllers and there are rules and minimums that must be taken into consideration. We have no doubt all seen the time of day when 25 cars are backlogged at a stoplight for 1 lone vehicle turning. This is the reality and as Kingston grows it will only get worse. Knowing the people who work on the timing of the city lights I realize they already are doing the best timing job they can. It is time to face the facts and instead of putting energy against it, help the city realize its potential and grow in a healthy way. It will be a benefit to us in the end. Here is to a third crossing becoming a reality and proper planning for the future of our great city.
Cheers,
Ryan Boehme
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