{"id":575388001,"date":"2021-09-27T08:02:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T13:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/correspondents\/2021\/09\/27\/the-louise-a-troubled-bridge-over-waters"},"modified":"2021-09-24T14:06:39","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T19:06:39","slug":"the-louise-a-troubled-bridge-over-waters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/correspondents\/2021\/09\/27\/the-louise-a-troubled-bridge-over-waters","title":{"rendered":"The Louise &#8211; a troubled bridge over waters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"width: 1px;height: 1px;overflow: hidden\">Since the gunfight at OK Corral in 1881, the Louise Bridge has served as a vital link between northeast Winnipeg and the downtown.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"width: 1px;height: 1px;overflow: hidden\">For the last 110 of those years, vehicular traffic of one kind or another has made its way across the now &lsquo;functionally obsolete&rsquo; structure. We&rsquo;ve gotten our money&rsquo;s worth, but it&rsquo;s time to pony up. The bridge&rsquo;s base is beyond repair, and city engineers have sought to decommission and replace it since 2008. Northeast Winnipeg residents know they are driving over the Red River on borrowed time.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"width: 1px;height: 1px;overflow: hidden\">In 2009, city planners drew up a list of major road improvements, and the Louise Bridge was rightfully given priority, and soon after placed on its 2011 Transportation Master Plan short-list.<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"width: 1px;height: 1px;overflow: hidden\">City engineers had to decide where the replacement bridge would be built and, for a while, it appeared a sure thing the site of the new bridge would be just east of the current bridge. The city even expropriated homes there.<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"width: 1px;height: 1px;overflow: hidden\">In 2014, when federal infrastructure funds became available, we thought everything was on track. However, the city&rsquo;s administration didn&rsquo;t ask for any money.&nbsp; That&rsquo;s when the New Louise Bridge Committee began its campaign. Our surveys confirmed residents wanted a new bridge beside the current bridge, with the old bridge kept open for local traffic.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"width: 1px;height: 1px;overflow: hidden\">Our campaign spurred the NDP government to signal its firm commitment to partner with the city on replacing the Louise Bridge in its 2015 throne speech.<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"width: 1px;height: 1px;overflow: hidden\">Unfortunately, provincial infrastructure initiatives such the new Louise Bridge came to a halt with the election of the Progressive Conservative government in 2016. No effort has been made since to get this project underway.<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"width: 1px;height: 1px;overflow: hidden\">More recently, the city tethered the Louise Bridge replacement issue to its new Transportation Master Plan and Eastern Corridor Project. Its recommendations are just around the corner &#8211; &ldquo;winter\/spring 2022&rdquo; &#8211; which is a bit behind the original schedule, but most welcome. City planners will be recommending a general alignment of a new bridge just a few yards west of its current site, not east as originally proposed.<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"width: 1px;height: 1px;overflow: hidden\">If you have any questions about other provincial programs, feel free to contact me at 204-415-1122 or email me at jim.maloway@yourmanitoba.ca<\/div>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":296578731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"education-subject":[],"media-literacy-topic":[],"post_topic":[],"content_type":[24],"class_list":["post-575388001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-correspondents"],"acf":{"short_title":"","seo_title":"","deck":"","story_tag":"","byline":"Jim Maloway ","updates":null},"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/correspondents\/2021\/09\/27\/the-louise-a-troubled-bridge-over-waters","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Louise &#8211; a troubled bridge over waters","url":"http:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/correspondents\/2021\/09\/27\/the-louise-a-troubled-bridge-over-waters","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/correspondents\/2021\/09\/27\/the-louise-a-troubled-bridge-over-waters"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/e-col-maloway-sept29.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/e-col-maloway-sept29.jpg"},"articleSection":"Community Correspondents","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"feedloaderapi"}],"creator":["feedloaderapi"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Our Communities","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2021-09-27T13:02:00Z","datePublished":"2021-09-27T13:02:00Z","dateModified":"2021-09-27T13:02:00Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"The Louise &#8211; a troubled bridge over waters\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\\\/our-communities\\\/correspondents\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/27\\\/the-louise-a-troubled-bridge-over-waters\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\\\/our-communities\\\/correspondents\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/27\\\/the-louise-a-troubled-bridge-over-waters\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\\\/our-communities\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/e-col-maloway-sept29.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\\\/our-communities\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/e-col-maloway-sept29.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Community Correspondents\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"feedloaderapi\"}],\"creator\":[\"feedloaderapi\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Our Communities\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2021-09-27T13:02:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-27T13:02:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-27T13:02:00Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/winnipegfreepress.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/e-col-maloway-sept29.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"deck":"","byline":"Jim Maloway ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575388001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575388001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575388001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296578731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575388001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575388001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575388001"},{"taxonomy":"education-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/education-subject?post=575388001"},{"taxonomy":"media-literacy-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-literacy-topic?post=575388001"},{"taxonomy":"post_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_topic?post=575388001"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=575388001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}