WINDSOR, Ont. (April 21, 2005) — The Federal Liberal government seems to have snubbed a Windsor-Detroit truck route plan that was chosen by the Canadian border town and endorsed yesterday by the provincial government.

The project — drawn up by New York City traffic expert Sam Schwartz for Windsor City Council earlier this year — would create a bypass of the overwhelmed and truck-jammed Huron Church Rd. en route to a potential new river crossing at the world’s busiest border point.

Schwartz’s $1 million report recommended trucks come off Hwy. 401 to Talbot Rd, and then bypass Huron Church via a “horseshoe” route to the west through mostly vacant woodland. Ojibway Parkway would than carry the traffic north, through a city-owned industrial area, to the new “central” crossing. (Read full story at www.todaystrucking.com/displayarticle.cfm?ID=3702).

Despite local media reports yesterday predicting the Ontario government would also reject the Schwartz bypass and endorse an alternative route via E.C. Row, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced yesterday it’s willing to fund the municipal environmental assessment study for the Schwartz project as well as provide up to $150 million for its construction.

However, the Feds — much to the disappointment of Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis and Schwartz himself — have refused to follow suit. The federal government presumably withheld its support for the proposed bypass because it doesn’t want to sway the bilateral process of selecting the location of a future bridge.

Instead, Transport Canada today pledged it would commit, along with the province, up to $21 million for environmental assessments and preparatory design work for various other projects to relieve truck congestion on city streets as part of the second phase of the Let’s Get Windsor-Essex Moving Strategy.

Ironically, while some of the funding would go towards assessing the initial part of Schwartz’s route, it mostly includes studying a plan that supports the foundations of a separate truckway — one that has already been rejected by Mayor Francis, (who boycotted the joint press conference in protest today) and much of city council.

That plan — which would lead commercial traffic to a new crossing via a Lauzon Parkway-E.C. Row extension — was also dismissed by Schwartz in his presentation to the city in January for several reasons. He said E.C. Row would have to be widened to 8-10 lanes; it would disrupt Windsor traffic; impact over a thousand residences and business, and cut through the heart of the city.

While the assessment announced today didn’t specifically call for the creation of an E.C. Row truck route, it would take a look at upgrading and extending Lauzon Parkway, from Hwy. 401 to E.C. Row; a new freeway or arterial road (4-6 lanes) with construction of new interchanges at Hwy. 401 and E.C. Row; and access to existing and future border-related industrial areas.

Although the project is currently being touted as a temporary option to accommodate truck volume until an official bypass is agreed upon, the statement makes it clear that the proposal “could provide direct access to Hwy. 401 as well as an efficient alternative route for international truck traffic to access E.C. Row and the border crossing during future construction.”

“The McGuinty government actually stepped up to the plate,” Schwartz told TodaysTrucking.com while flying from Windsor back to N.Y. this afternoon. “Unfortunately, the federal government refuses to commit to (the bypass plan.”

Although he’s encouraged by the provincial government’s support, Schwartz questions why more money has to be thrown at further studying proposals that have clearly been rejected by city officials and a large portion of Windsor citizenry.

“There’s a sequencing issue that concerned the city, where Lauzon Parkway would be built first, and send all the traffic down E.C. Row and onto Huron Church, which would just aggravate the conflicts between the truckers and the citizens,” Schwartz added.

The Ontario Trucking Association was dismayed that a bypass agreement between all parties has still not been reached. “It is lamentable that after all this time, the governments have not been able to agree on a way to deal with this in the medium-term,” OTA President David Bradley said in a release. “The two options that have been proposed — the by-pass proposed by the Schwartz Report and improving EC Row Expressway — both present challenges or objections that the three levels of government have not been able to overcome.”

While Bradley admits the issue is “a complex legal, engineering, political and economic matter,” he doubts that more time and discussion will lead to a decision and called for a mediator — “someone with a background in engineering, environmental assessment law and sensitivity to the community” — to work with the governments towards finding a solution right away.

The Canadian Auto Workers union called for universal adoption of the entire Schwartz report. “All levels of government must listen to the recommendations put forward by Sam Schwartz, who
is a world renowned expert on traffic engineering,” said Local 444 president Ken Lewenza.

Other projects announced in the joint federal-provincial announcement, include:

An environmental assessment and detailed design for improvements to Talbot Road from Highway 401 to Todd Lane; an assessment to upgrade Manning Road from Hwy. 401 to County Road 22; and an additional $108 million to widen Hwy. 401 from Hwy. 3 to Manning Road; and Hwy. 3 intersection improvements at Outer Drive and Walker Road.

Today’s announcement did adopt a handful of supplementary recommendations made in the Schwartz report, such as assessing additional truck ferry capacity across the Detroit river; a truck staging centre with intelligent transportation technology; a strategic rail study to examine the opportunities for more rail rationalization; and an intermodal hub at the Windsor Airport.