Border Bits

Here are a few small items that I wanted to talk about respecting the border. They are not enough for a full BLOG but are deserving of mention.

WHAT HOUSE AND SENATE RESOLUTIONS?

Imagine that your boss is angry that you have been spending money so freely on a project and has told you that you ought to be careful about how you are spending money. In fact, your boss says do not spend any more money on the project starting at the beginning of the next fiscal year which starts October 1 or at least not without his/her permission. If you were the employee, what would you do:

• (a) Stop spending money immediately




• (b) Gradually reduce the amount spent




• (c) Spend money only to wind down the project




• (d) Spend money only as approved by your boss




• (e) Ignore your boss and keep on spending
  
  

If you are MDOT, the answer seems to be (e)

I received an email from Mohammed Alghurabi of MDOT saying:

• "The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) would like to thank you for your continued interest in the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) Study. The purpose of this email is to notify you of the cancellation of the June monthly meeting of the DRIC Local Advisory Council (LAC). The cancellation is due to the first meeting of the DRIC Geotechnical Issues Advisory Group, scheduled for June 28-30, 2006. At the last meeting of the LAC in May, the attendees voted to postpone their next meeting until July, rather than convene on a different date in June.
  
  Also at the May LAC meeting, a presentation giving an overview of the drilling program was offered. This presentation can be accessed on the DRIC Study website at http://www.partnershipborderstudy.com/pdf/053106_Drilling_PPT_LAC.pdf. Additionally a geotechnical information packet was distributed, which can be accessed at http://www.partnershipborderstudy.com/news.asp, under the heading "U.S. Field Investigation of Brine Well Locations - Summer and Fall 2006." The packet included the following elements:
  
  * Drilling Notice
  * Field Operations Contacts
  * Field Operations Organization Chart
  * Estimate of One-way Truck Trips during Investigative Drilling
  * Designated Haul Routes for X-10
  * Designated Haul Routes for X-11
  * Haul Route Signs
  * Communications Protocol for the Investigative Drilling Program
  * Hydrogen Sulfide Contingency Plan
  * Safety Orientation for the Investigative Drilling Program"
  
  

I was rather shocked by what I read and could not believe what MDOT was doing. I thought the drilling would cost a small fortune. So being the curious person that I am, I sent this note to MDOT seeking some answers:

• "To: "MOHAMMED S. ALGHURABI" and to "Kirk Steudle"
  Subject: Re: DRIC Local Advisory Council Meeting Cancellation
  
  I was quite interested in receiving your email. It would appear to me, from viewing the material on your website, that the cost of doing the drilling and the time required will be quite extensive.
  
  Perhaps MDOT is not aware that the House and Senate of Michigan passed bills dealing with this project. For your information, they are:
  
  SB-1097, As Passed Senate, May 24, 2006
  
  Sec. 384. From the funds appropriated in part 1, the department shall not use any funds to support the Detroit River international crossing study or to implement any recommendations made from such study.
  
  
  HB-5796, As Passed House, May 24, 2006
  
  Sec. 393. No funds appropriated in part 1 may be expended for the study of a new crossing of the Detroit River between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario without prior approval of the house and senate committees on transportation.
  
  While I appreciate that these bills deal with matters in the next budget year, I would be pleased to understand the justification that MDOT has for spending all of this money on continuing on with the DRIC program when it is clear that the House and Senate want spending stopped.
  
  I would be interested in knowing as well how many millions of dollars will be spent between this date and the start of the new budget year and what specific projects will receive that money. Would you also please advise me if any projects that were planned for the next budget year have been moved up to this budget year and the rationale for doing so."
  
  

No response yet.

BILL C-3 AND DRTP

If you needed confirmation that DRTP is in serious trouble, the Bill provides it.

As I have explained, it is pretty clear now that DRTP has given up hoping that its rail tunnels will be converted for trucks. The concept was shot down by MDOT a long time ago as I posted before while Schwartz and the DRIC engineers have said the DRTP project is not the solution for the border crossing problem.

Given all of that Bill C-3 states:

• "No person shall construct or alter an international bridge or tunnel without the approval of the Governor in Council
  
  "alteration" includes a conversion, an extension and a change in the use of an international bridge or tunnel"

No wonder that DRTP is trying to sell its corridor for use as the road to the Ambassador Bridge as was shown at the Tunnel Forum the other night.

WINDSOR'S NEW PUBLIC WORKS GM

In case you did not know, Windsor has a new General Manager of Public Works to replace John Tofflemire. Dev Tyagi comes here from his last job as Controller of Plant/Facilities Management for the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board.

However, what interested me about him is that he said on Cogeco, when he was interviewed by Joe McParland, that he was part of the decision-making process that decided to twin the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia.

Yes that dirty “T” four-letter word.

I wonder if that was known by the team that hired him. Will he finally bring some sanity and common sense to City Hall on the border mess.

As you will recall from my BLOG [March 22, 2006, Learning from the Blue Water Bridge], Engineers went through an exercise similar to what was done here and they reached certain conclusions that should be eerily familiar to us:
“The tunnel did not fare well in the analysis. Building a tunnel would cost three to four times more than a bridge. Likewise, new bridges at the two southern locations would cost two times more than a bridge next to the existing. New access roads and toll/customs facilities drove up the price of these options. More importantly, the existing highway systems in both countries led to the Blue Water Bridge site and a new bridge to the south would not divert enough traffic to benefit the old one…

After holding public meetings and studying several alternative locations for a second bridge, the team members recommended that a second bridge be constructed just to the south of the existing bridge...”

I hope someone warns him what is politically correct in Windsor especially in an election year. We cannot have him saying nice things about a twinned Ambassador Bridge and undercutting our Mayor and Council! He does not want to cut his career short prematurely does he?

Oh, and as for John, I hear that he really is very happy in Leamington. I am sure that he would be willing to show his former bosses how to build an arena inexpensively and how to make it a true part of the community. In case someone wants to know where his office is, it is right in the arena along with other services for the local community.

I WISH I HAD THOUGHT OF THIS

I saw this BLOG on the DREWBUDDY Blogspot and thought you might find it as interesting as I!

• "Tunnel Vision
  
  The Detroit Free Press carried an article this morning about renaming the Detroit-Windsor tunnel in honour of Rep. John Conyers, a Democratic politician from Detroit. It was proposed by his wife, who sits as President of Detroit City Council...
  
  Street names and monuments used to be named in honour of a cherished part or person of our history. I'm admittedly not a fan of the Conyers proposal, as I don't know if Conyers has had the kind of impact on the city as, say, Coleman Young. But if it passes, we should respond in kind by renaming our end the "Remo Mancini Tunnel", if only to stir the pot a little bit."