Mayor Francis grills Tunnel Commission Chair

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No, dear reader, he hasn’t, but I am waiting with bated breath for the Mayor to grill the chair of the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Commission over their plans to expand the  tunnel plaza and any impacts it could have on air quality for downtown residents.

Oh wait…

Mayor Eddie Francis is the chair of the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Commission.  I guess we won’t be seeing any 3 hour presentations of Mayor Francis talking to himself.  Then again, strike that (see Revenge of Cogeco video).

The Mayor’s office has advised a reader that projects listed in  the City of Windsor’s $371.6 -million infrastructure wish-list  are ones that can begin within 120 days – which means the tunnel plaza expansion is ready to go within 4 months  (Wow – I’m feeling left out, my emails to the Mayor go consistently unanswered).

Included in that list is a request for $10-million for the tunnel plaza expansion project that has been delayed since the summer of 2006 after the conclusion of the second of three public information sessions – the third public information was scheduled for the fall of 2006, but was cancelled and has not been rescheduled.

Considering the arguments the city has made regarding the impacts the W.E. Parkway could have on air quality, I am certain the City of Windsor has undertaken due diligence in determining the same for the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Plaza expansion as well as the downtown ventilation building.

A detailed traffic projection analysis would go a long way to determining what, if any impacts will result and whether or not the tunnel plaza improvements will improve air quality and/or shield downtown residents from any particulate matter.

So off I went to the city’s tunnel plaza expansion website  in search of answers (a print out of the website is here at the time of writing).

However, no such information was available on the site, however, residents are advised to contact either Mark Galvin, Project Administrator or Doug MacRae with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation for more information regarding the plan.

But the email to Doug MacRae bounced back with a message indicating that the mailbox is not available.  So I emailed Mark Galvin – the project administrator – with the following questions:

Dear Mr. Galvin:

Unfortunately in attempting to contact the provincial authority responsible for the
EA of the tunnel plaza the email bounced back.

Could you answer for me the following pertaining to the Tunnel Plaza Expansion EA:

1.  When will the final PIC be conducted?
2.  Has a preferred alternative been selected?
3.  When is the expected completion date of the EA for the tunnel plaza expansion
proposal?
4.  Where is the information pertaining to traffic projections to 2026 on the
website?
5.  Have air quality impacts been analyzed and/or performed based upon traffic
projections through to 2026?

Thank you for your time in responding to these questions.

Sincerely,

Chris Schnurr

To Mr. Galvin’s credit, he responded within minutes of my email, but despite being the project administrator of this city initiative, he could not answer my questions- referring them to the MTO Project Manager for the Tunnel Plaza Project, Rakesh Shreewastav as well as the City of Windsor Project Lead,  Greg St. Louis.

Then I went to the Ministry of Transportation’s website regarding the project (screen shot of page here), however it did not contain any additional information over the city’s website except that:

We are working with the City of Windsor to finalize the schedule for this project based on the remaining requirements for the EA study.

The only information on this project is contained in the display board from the July 2006 PIC which indicates that the project is mid-way through Stage 3 of the EA process.  A detailed flowchart of the municipal EA process is found below (click on it to expand).

Can the remaining stages of the EA be completed within 120 days?

The questions I pose are also important given the arguments the City of Windsor vis-a-vis Mayor Francis and Counsel David Estrin have made regarding the air quality assessment of the W.E. Parkway.

After highlighting the dangers of a 7ug/m3 increase in particulate matter, the City of Windsor now has a duty of care to ensure that municipal projects do not exceed this criteria – and if so – that appropriate mitigation measures are undertaken.

Otherwise, their arguments against the W.E. Parkway are nothing but hypocritical.

Which is why I am curious as to the traffic projections the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel has undertaken to the year 2026.

What are the projected number of automobiles, cars and trucks that will be accessing the tunnel plaza by 2026?

As well, considering the established “fall out” zone of particulate matter is within 250 meters of the proposed DRIC plaza, I’m curious as to the impact of an expanded tunnel plaza will have on air quality within a similar 250 m perimeter.  What are the projected levels of PM2.5 and PM10 within this 250 m zone? 

Granted, the tunnel plaza will not see the volume of diesel trucks  the W.E Parkway could experience, but any expansion plans to the downtown plaza should be improving the air quality of Windsor over doing nothing at all, to use the Mayor and council’s argument.

The Windsor Detroit Tunnel saw traffic volumes of 4,755,755 vehicles in 2008. The number of trucks was 89,973, and the number of passenger vehicles was 4,610,010. The number of buses and miscellaneous vehicles was  55,672 (January 14, 2009, Windsor Star).

I’m sure downtown residents would like to know given the grave dangers expressed by the city pertaining to the “dangerous” W.E. Parkway.

Because all the tunnel plaza expansion appears to do is move the backups currently on Goyeau and concentrate them within the expanded plaza.   That is to say, rather than idling in a long line down Goyeau – potentially hundreds of vehicles will be idling within a concentrated zone within the expanded plaza.

Perhaps these questions have already been answered – I have no way of knowing given the lack of information or transparency regarding this project. 

As such, I have no way to determine what, if any impact the tunnel plaza expansion will have on air quality and its impact on pedestrians, shoppers, residents and visitors to the Casino.

Can we look forward to the tunnel commission chair being grilled by Mayor Eddie Francis? 

Will Councillor Brister lie down on Goyeau Avenue protesting the lack of information about the plan?

Wouldn’t that be a sight to see!