THUNDER BAY - For people living in the Thunder Bay-Atikokan riding, the top infrastructure priority is related to safety and connecting communities, and it’s a priority that needs to be fixed now.
On Thursday, the Thunder Bay-Atikokan MP, Don Rusnak, hosted a public consultation meeting on the top infrastructure priorities for the riding.
For those in attendance, the top priority came down to one issue, the James Street Swing Bridge.
“The James Street Bridge was the main point I got in terms of infrastructure priorities in terms of this part of the riding,” Rusnak said during the meeting. “We had a horrible accident on Highway 61 not long ago and there is a marked increase in traffic coming out of Chippewa Road.”
The James Street Swing Bridge was damaged by a fire in Oct. 2013 and has been closed to vehicular traffic ever since. The city of Thunder Bay and CN Rail, who own the bridge, are currently locked in a legal dispute over who will pay to repair the bridge.
“It is very much a safety issue,” said Azim Mallik during the meeting. “The bridge that has been closed for several years. I would like to propose a new bridge on the Kaministiquia River to access the other side of the river. I think an initiative that comes from the federal government regarding the infrastructure investment should be joining with the provincial ministry of transport and also the city.”
Maurice Rubenick agreed, adding that for seniors, travelling to the Fort William First Nation is no longer an option for those who do not feel safe travelling down Highway 61.
Fort William First Nation chief, Peter Collins, was also in attendance and he said the bridge being inaccessible is hurting both communities economically. He used the example of businesses in the Westfort area losing business because people travelling to and from Fort William First Nation are now bypassing the area.
“Everybody thinks this is about Fort William, it’s not about Fort William,” he said. “It’s about the people who come and work in Fort William. Fort William is an economic driver in Thunder Bay and we want to get bigger and better but we need the access.”
Rusnak said he is working with all parties involved to find a solution, though due to legal issues, the city is no longer at the table.
“I’ve been meeting with Fort William First Nation, the city of Thunder Bay, and CN to try and get a resolution to the bridge issue,” he said. “We’ve been continuing meetings with CN and the Fort William First Nation. There are some proposals on the table.”
Rusnak attributes recent accidents to the closure of the James Street Swing Bridge because it is creating increased traffic on Highway 61.
“Would the resumption of traffic at the CN Bridge reduce that, of course,” he said. “We don’t need a study to determine that. Anything I can do to alleviate that and get a solution, we have been working towards.”
Rusnak added that he would like to see even a temporary solution to get traffic moving over the bridge at James Street again.
“In the short term, I want to see a temporary solution and CN has proposed to have the track bed used as a one way or two way vehicle access,” he said.
On the more general issue of highway safety, Rusnak said he has discussed the issue with the provincial minsters of finance and transportation to find a solution, including the possibility of a divided highway.
“It’s very expensive, but because of the volume of traffic, especially cross-country traffic in terms of heavy trucks going through the city, that is a worthwhile investment,” he said. “You separate the city traffic from the cross-country traffic and you make those highways safer.”
Rusnak indicated that other top infrastructure priorities throughout the riding include water and sewage.
“What the federal government has realized is a lot of municipalities have systems that are getting on in age and need either full replacement or huge upgrades to their systems,” he said. “We understand that a lot of municipalities don’t have the dollars to do it on their own.”
The proposed event centre was brought up during the consultation, with one participant saying it should be built on the Pool Six site, adding that the city cannot afford not to do it.
However, the James Street Swing Bridge seemed to trump talk of the event centre, with most seeing it as the top priority.
“We should be able to build a new bridge,” Mallik said. “We have seen the city’s attempt to secure infrastructure money for the event centre, but it’s on the backburner now. This qualifies for infrastructure money very much.”
