THUNDER BAY — The City of Thunder Bay is waiting to hear if CN rail will allow the city to use its bridge over the Neebing-McIntyre Floodway as part of a new north-south cycling corridor.
A city spokesperson says the city recently submitted inquiries to the railway, but has not yet received a detailed response.
The city hopes CN will agree to modifications to the bridge, located west of the McIntyre Centre on Memorial Avenue, to link the northern and southern sections of a cycling route connecting Carrick Street and Vickers Street respectively.
Using the existing crossing was identified during the environmental assessment of the project as the preferred option.
Planners believe it would be less expensive than the estimated $1.25 million cost of planning and building a new precast-concrete structure over the floodway at Carrick Street.
So far, CN has given the city no clear indication of how it views the proposal.
The scheduling of any work on the project may depend on whether the city is able to strike a deal with the railway, and on how quickly the negotiations are concluded.
If an agreement is not reached relatively quickly, it's likely the project will be put off to next year at the earliest.
The city and CN were recently engaged in a protracted legal battle over the reopening of the James Street bridge.
Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada turned down the railway's application to appeal a lower court decision that ordered it to fix the bridge and reopen it to vehicular traffic.
