THUNDER BAY – Building a new $25-million span just west of the James Street Swing Bridge is an idea being explored by Fort William First Nation.
Despite the current court battle with the city of Thunder Bay and CN rail over who is responsible for repairing the bridge, Chief Peter Collins says it’s going to be a long time before the connection to his community is restored.
“It doesn’t matter how it pans out,” Collins said. “If the city loses they are going to say they don’t own the bridge anyway and if CN loses there’s a good chance they are going to appeal the decision and we will still be waiting.”
At the end of the day, Collins said, the repairs to the bridge probably aren’t going to happen, adding he was told by the province’s infrastructure minister to seek federal infrastructure funding.
“It’s going to take a little bit of time and a little bit of effort from all levels of the government, plus ourselves always working with them trying to put things together,” he said.
“We have four months to come up with a term of reference and a guiding principle about how we get there.”
Collins hopes the plight of his community ensures they are put on a priority list.
Much of the legwork has already been done, he added.
Three different locations have been examined including one north of mission road and one around the old elevator, but the location just west of the James Street Swing Bridge was the best option.
“It makes more sense there and everybody is comfortable, they got that way over the last 100 years traveling in that direction, so it’s a good set up that we want to put together,” Collins said.
There’s still a lot of work to be completed, but they are making progress with the provincial and federal government. Collins added there are plenty of benefits that might arise if approval is given to construct the bridge.
“It’s about a two to four-year project, so it’s a good project and it would be good work for a lot of guys in the community,” he said.
“We have lots of iron workers in our community, so it would be a good an opportunity for them to get back to work.”
MP Patty Hajdu said the project has been discussed at the federal level and would likely fit into programs already in place.
