Peace Bridge Paradise
The neighborhood in the immediate vicinity of the Peace Bridge has been designated as one of the 11 most endangered places in the United States. Part of the Peace Bridge project involves the construction of a new customs plaza, and this would require the demolition of several homes in this very attractive community.
The original plan had been to have border management shared on the Canadian side of the river. American DHS officials would check passports and handle customs matters on Canadian soil to avoid idling on the bridge and to streamline operations. The problem was that Canada would not permit US officials to fingerprint motorists who simply changed their minds and made a U-turn rather than cross the border. That is violative of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the US would not relent on that one point.
Interestingly, the Canadians suggested several alternatives to permit US inspectors to have real or quasi-US sovereignty at those booths - everything from the airport model, where US inspectors check you before leaving, e.g., the Bahamas, to literally swapping land, to embassy-like sovereignty, to Chunnel-style border pre-clearance. Nothing was satisfactory to the Bush Administration.
Let’s be honest - the fact that the federal government nixed all of these possible solutions was extraordinarily short-sighted and stupid
As much as I can’t stand the use of a Joni Mitchell song to make a point, and as much as I’m annoyed as hell by the terms “built environment” and “sense of place”, I agree that the Peace Bridge project as currently constituted should not go forward.
Buffalo obviously has no use for a signature bridge or a twin span or anything else. What’s the point? Its construction has been hindered by everything from a decade-long design process to bird flight patterns to fish swim patterns to Bush intransigence.
But this region absolutely needs improvements made to border crossing to Canada - something that could be very helpful to our economy.
The new span from Canada should not be at the Peace Bridge, and it should not be at the Railroad bridge either. What’s the point of building a bridge at a spot where it has to make a 90-degree turn the moment it hits US soil? What’s the point of building a bridge at the Scajaquada, which people are already demanding be downgraded to a skate park or something?
Instead, we need:
1. A companion span at the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge. It has the most congestion of any bridge crossing at just about any given non-Bills game time and handles a lot of truck traffic due to the fact that it’s the easiest connection from 405 to the I-190. An expansion of existing Customs facilities would also be needed.
2. A 21st century signage system peppered throughout WNY that shows motorists exactly which bridges have what delay. NITTEC has been using the overhead programmable signs to do just that over the last few days, and it’s been quite helpful, I’m sure, to visiting Victoria Day holidaymakers and shoppers. Separate, similar signs should be installed throughout our region and on the QEW in Ontario.
I don’t disagree that the Columbus Parkway neighborhood is worth preserving, and the uncertainty is probably in some ways more harmful than the demolition itself might be. But let’s scrap the whole Peace Bridge nonsense while we’re ahead.
If it was wanted or needed, it would have been built years ago. Let some other area both reap the benefit and suffer the inconvenience that comes with a new international bridge.
Mike Miller Says:May 21st, 2008 at 7:11 am
Alan, you’re absolutely right on this. Niagara County is ideal for another bridge. After all, the back up is due to truck traffic more than cars and Niagara has the infrastructure to be able to handle additional truck traffic. Plus, it would be a shorter span with little to no disruption of existing neighborhoods (depending on where they put it, of course).
TomServo0 Says:May 21st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
RALLY FOR THE PEACE BRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD - ONE OF 2008′S 11 MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES
Yesterday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced that it has listed the Buffalo neighborhood in the vicinity of the Peace Bridge among the 11 Most Endangered Places in America.
The proposed expansion of the border entry plaza at this location threatens to destroy a vital historic neighborhood, to displace families and businesses, and to impact nationally significant Olmsted parks. Viable alternatives exist to minimize impacts to people and heritage, including other plaza configurations and other locations, but they have not been meaningfully considered. With a coalition of other Buffalo and Western NY organizations, we are calling on the responsible federal agencies to properly analyze less destructive alternatives.
At noon on Thursday, May 22, the National Trust for Historic Preservation will host a public event in Buffalo to mark the announcement. We are reaching out to the community leaders, organizations, and individuals who have worked to safeguard Buffalo’s quality of life and its history, our friends and supporters, to ask that you join us at the Picnic Shelter in Front Park (corner of Porter Ave. And Busti Ave.) for a media and public event to mark this listing, featuring Wendy Nicholas, Director of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Northeast Office, and our partners in this effort.
Questions? Contact Roberta Lane at roberta_lane[AT]nthp.org Tel: 617.523.0885