THUNDER BAY – Business owners on both sides of the James Street Swing Bridge say they are pleased with the Supreme Court of Canada's decision that effectively requires the span to be reopened to vehicular traffic.
The country’s highest court on Thursday dismissed CN Rail’s leave to appeal application against last year’s Ontario Court of Justice ruling, maintaining the previous decision that the railway is obligated to have the bridge accessible to vehicular traffic.
The century-old bridge, which links the south side of Thunder Bay to Fort William First Nation, has been closed to motor vehicles since a fire broke out on the northern approach spans on the evening of Oct. 29, 2013.
The ongoing closure left Highway 61 as the only route between the two communities, cutting off the direct link between the Westfort business community and Fort William First Nation for the last five-and-a-half years.
Westfort Foods store manager Earl Wicklund said there was an initial 10 per cent drop in traffic at the grocery store following the bridge closure.
“I know it can only be a positive thing for our business,” Wicklund said on Friday.
“We do a lot of business with the Fort William First Nation and we’ve developed quite a relationship with them. Going forward, it can only be good for our business and probably all of the businesses on the Westfort strip.”
There is a similar sense of opportunity on the other side of the bridge.
Wally Bannon, a co-owner of the J&W gas bar where James Street meets City Road, hopes traffic will return to levels that were seen when the bridge was still open.
“At that time, there was quite a flow of traffic coming from the city onto the reserve both for business and pleasure,” Bannon said. “When it initially closed, the businesses all suffered about 25 to 40 per cent slowdown. We did have to take some actions with layoffs.”
Traffic has eventually picked but it took a couple of years, Bannon said.
Bannon said many people in Fort William First Nation relied on Westfort prior to the closure, but with the detour have gone elsewhere.
“It was much more convenient to just pop across the bridge to do whatever we needed to do, whether it was the drug store, the bank, the grocery store,” Bannon said.
“I think a lot of people got used to going the other way because you would turn down Arthur Street and it was all there.”
John Fresco, who owns Fresco’s Deli on Frederica Street, is optimistic about the future of the Westfort area going forward if the bridge is reopened.
“Empty buildings are going to get filled again. We’re going to start seeing some new people coming in,” Fresco said.
“New businesses should flourish. We need people and we need traffic flow. Without that you’re not going to have anything. We got decimated. Four or five years, it’s been a real struggle.”
