The Peace Bridge Essay Research Paper The

The Peace Bridge Essay, Research Paper

The Peace Bridge and Buffalo

What can construction do for an area. The construction of an office building may bring in a firm, corporation, or company. The construction of a sporting arena may keep a team where it currently is, or bring a new team to that area. For example, the construction of the HSBC Arena kept the Sabres in Buffalo. The construction of a casino may bring in tourists, or people who live in the outlying suburbs. It seems obvious that all of the prior examples bring economic growth and development to that certain place. However, there is a less obvious question to be asked. If a new bridge is built what can that bring to an area. In the case of Buffalo, many people believe economic revival.

Personally, I have lived in Buffalo my entire life. Last summer I worked at the Peace Bridge in a tollbooth. Working at the Peace Bridge and living in Buffalo have resulted in me taking a great interest in the building of a new bridge. This new bridge just may bring prosperity back to Buffalo.

A privately owned company constructed the current Peace Bridge in 1927. It became a link between Fort Erie, Canada and Buffalo, New York. The bridge is over one mile long, 5,800 feet, and holds three lanes of traffic. The center lane may go north or south depending on the volume of traffic. In 1934, the Great Depression caused a change. The Peace Bridge became publicly owned. As a result there were no taxes to be paid, and financing for projects could be obtained by issuing bonds at a low interest rate. The publicly owned bridge instituted a board of governors called the Peace Bridge Authority, PBA. The board, which made all decisions, was made up of six Americans and three Canadians. From that time until 1996 there were few changes made. Only some minor renovations took place. The renovations were the repaving and repainting of the bridge, and the addition of new traffic lights and tollbooths.

February of 1996 marked an important change. This was the changing of the board of governors. It was changed to five Americans, instead of six, and five Canadians, instead of three. Now there was even representation from both countries, the American majority was eliminated. Only two months later, in April of 1996, the PBA announced plans to build a new bridge. Since that time, there have been some structural plans drawn, but there have been no strong indications that a bridge will be built soon. The building of the new bridge will be completely self-funded. There will be no money used from taxes in the United States or Canada. All of the money will come from tollbooth collections, and from money the PBA makes from leasing land. The leased land is land that is owned by the PBA, and is located in the surrounding area of the Peace Bridge. The PBA has never relied on funding support from the governments of the United States or Canada. They will not receive any for the building of the new bridge. The building of a new bridge is necessary.

The old bridge is structurally sound, it could last for another 75 years, but it is just not large enough to accommodate all the traffic. Once again, it is necessary to remember that the Peace Bridge is an important link between the United States and Canada. The PBA states, “There was ten million dollars traveling over the bridge weekly in 1990, presently in 2001 there is 700 million dollars traveling over the bridge weekly.” In addition, 6,000 trucks carrying commercial goods travel over the bridge daily. By the year 2003, the Peace Bridge will reach ultimate capacity. If traffic continues to grow, the bridge will become outdated by 2004. Therefore, a new bridge is needed.

The new bridge will either be a twin span, or a signature span. A twin span is a bridge in which two bridges essentially function as one. In the case of the Peace Bridge, the idea is that an identical bridge will be built next to the existing one. This should limit traffic problems because one bridge will support northern traffic to Fort Erie, whereas the other bridge will support southern traffic to Buffalo. However, people from the Buffalo area do not advocate this design. For example, The New Millennium Group of Buffalo (area professionals in their 20s and 30s) said, “The Peace Bridge is so ugly that nobody will even jump off it, to build another like it would be absurd.” In addition, David Chen of The New York Times states, “The current bridge looks like a scaly aquatic monster.”

The people of Buffalo advocate a signature span design. This type of bridge would resemble the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The signature bridge is a single bridge that is supported by a foundation at the center, and suspension cables. This type of bridge holds north, and south traffic. People from Buffalo like this style because of its beauty, and landmark possibilities. However, no agreement can be made on what type of bridge to build.

The twin span would cost 90 million dollars and take 4-5 years to build, whereas the signature span would cost around 70 million dollars and take 8-10 years to build. The root of the problem is that Buffalo wants the perfect bridge built, and Fort Erie just wants something to be built. Fort Erie’s point can be summed up with a quote by Mayor Redkop, “The bridge is only one mile long, just build and build now.” Both sides must come to an agreement or nothing will be