We need a new Louise Bridge now

Elmwood

On May 30, the City of Winnipeg announced its annual inspection of the 114-year-old Louise Bridge had uncovered corrosion that had to be repaired before the bridge could re-open. The city hopes this work would be completed by the end of July. That’s more than a two-month closure while key steel structural parts and repairs to the bridge must be tendered, designed, poured, and installed.

The city helpfully suggested drivers who use the bridge daily plan alternate routes, such as the Disraeli Freeway or Provencher Bridge, and allow for additional travel time. That’s 27,000 drivers daily added to these already congested routes for this two-month summer period.

The city engineers tell us there’s only a five-year window before the functionally obsolete Louise Bridge may be declared unsafe and left to stand as a monument to shifting city priorities.

Again, yesterday’s indecision and shifting priorities are today’s problems. To be fair, this is not a situation caused by anything this administration did. You have to go back to 2014 to see where that city administration dropped the ball. The city recently took their first misstep, a big backward step, to defer replacement by opting for a $40 million Louise Bridge rehabilitation — a total waste of $40 million of your tax dollars and your inconvenience of a full bridge closure while the bridge is being ‘rehabbed’. Coun. Russ Wyatt (Transcona) acknowledged a full closure could be a ‘disaster.’

The second and best choice would be to build the recommended three lane in each direction bridge to serve the future needs of northeast Winnipeg as a key link of the 2050 Eastern Corridor Project at a cost of $179 million. The old bridge would remain left open for traffic — no closure and no inconvenience to drivers — and tax dollars would be better spent as recommended by city planners.

Band-aid solutions never work and it’s not too late to do the right thing budget-wise and traffic-wise.

Feel free to contact me at 204-415-1122 or email me at Jim.Maloway@yourmanitoba.ca

Please take a moment as well to visit my web site at www.yourelmwood.com