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  #41  
Old Posted Aug 24, 2011, 3:54 PM
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It is surprising that London never built an expressway, I can't even imagine not having the E C Row Expressway to get across Windsor. It must be frustrating for Londoners to deal with.
I don't want to veer too far off topic, but it's a long story why London never built a freeway.

Basically our municipal government likes to act like London's a small town when in reality it's actually a sizable city.

At one point, the province wanted to build Highway 402 in the city's north, providing a last ditch effort to get a freeway in London and they would have paid for practically the whole thing. When London said no to this too, they pretty much said screw you and routed the 402 way off to the city's south and had it wind it's way around London towards Sarnia.

London is the largest city in North America not to have a freeway to serve local traffic. Even Winnipeg has us beat!

This project in Windsor should have been done at least 50 years ago. In addition, it's weird how the E.C. Row and 401 never connected in the first place. At least this project will fix that.
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  #42  
Old Posted Aug 24, 2011, 7:17 PM
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Our expressway was never intended to carry international traffic, it was built primarily for city and commuter traffic
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  #43  
Old Posted Aug 24, 2011, 10:16 PM
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^ and it's nowhere close to being up to proper highway standards, some parts of it are a death trap.

When London was bickering about where to build the highway, the province or feds should have just gone over their heads and built it where they wanted.
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  #44  
Old Posted Aug 25, 2011, 5:49 PM
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I agree that E C Row's design is flawed, with on and off ramps way too close to eachother, but I'm glad that we have one.
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  #45  
Old Posted Aug 26, 2011, 5:02 PM
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A few notable tricky spots on the expressway are the Dougall - Howard exchange corridor, there's soo many on ramps off ramps etc in a tight area, mixed with hills and some blind spots.

Probably the other tricky spot would be exiting the expressway @ Lauzon Parkway trying to get immediately over to the north service road so you can get to Jefferson because Jefferson's expressway exchange is flawed.

There is a big lack of consistency in Windsor's expressway which does nothing but confuse drivers, both from out of town and local. Combine this with some of the terrible driving on the part of Windsor drivers and it's chaos at times.
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  #46  
Old Posted Aug 26, 2011, 6:42 PM
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...and to think that the province originally wanted to use it as the international truck route!
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  #47  
Old Posted Aug 26, 2011, 7:58 PM
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^ Thank god our mayor went to battle over that cheap ass "fix"! That would have destroyed our city.
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  #48  
Old Posted Sep 20, 2011, 6:30 PM
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Interesting read from the Windsor Star about Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun

Quote:
WINDSOR, Ont. -- In his battle to kill support for a government-backed Windsor-Detroit downriver bridge, Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun has spent close to $5 million on television advertising, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

The funds only reflect what has been spent in Michigan by the bridge company and not elsewhere in the U.S. or Ontario where Moroun has also run numerous television ads criticizing the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) bridge project.

“This is an enormous amount of money spent on a lobbying campaign,” said Rich Robinson, executive director of the non-profit group which tracks money spent in Michigan politics.

“Year after year, the top reported expenditures usually top out at $1 million or $1.3 million. This is without precedence from what I have seen.”

Political approval in the state remains the last major hurdle before construction can begin on the downriver DRIC bridge project. Moroun has been fighting to stop the crossing from becoming reality in order to protect his US$60 million in annual toll revenues, plus untold millions more in profits from sales of duty free gas and goods at his bridge.

Gov. Rick Snyder has been leading the charge to win political approval in his state, but not yet able to overcome Moroun’s lobbying influence on fellow lawmakers. A series of committee hearings on the bridge project are being held in the state capital of Lansing with a vote expected around the end of October.

Canada has offered up to $550 million to pay Michigan’s share of construction costs toward the crossing.

Robinson’s group studied public records from the state’s television broadcasters and cable systems to determine gross ad sales. Funds spent by the bridge company totalled $4.07 million from March

7th until June 21st. The ad campaign resumed on September 5th and the group determined another $618,000 has been spent.

“I believe it is having an impact,” Robinson said. “People who spend money in politics are economic investors and are seeking a return on investment. Their goal is to tie up the public-private partnership (to build the bridge) and so far they are succeeding.”

Bridge company president Dan Stamper did not return a message Monday left by the Star.

Moroun’s spending on television ads goes hand-in-hand with his family’s ongoing contributions to the state’s politicians. Robinson’s group also reported the Morouns gave various lawmakers and political action groups a total of $550,000 in the 2010 election cycle and another $55,000 so far in 2011.

No matter how many millions Moroun spends on lobbying, it doesn’t change the bottom line of the DRIC bridge not costing the state’s taxpayers a dime, said Tom Shields, spokesman for a coalition of business and political leaders supporting the project.

“I think he is wearing thin with legislators,” Shields said. “They know what the truth is and I think eventually this will all backfire on him.

“What he is buying is additional time. Maybe he is getting what he has paid for. Every month that goes by without competition is another $10 million in his pocket. Once legislators look closely enough they understand taxpayers are protected and this project will not cost them any money. In the near future, (the DRIC bridge) will get built.”
It's nice to know that this Michigan millionaire who has a monopoly on North America's busiest border crossing and has been nothing but a pain in the side of the city of Windsor is spending tonnes of money to convince 905 area voters that fully and properly extending the 401 to the american interstate system thereby providing a long overdue bypass for international truck traffic in Windsor alleviating congestion and pollution from thousands of trucks is a waste of money....

What an a$$hole.
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  #49  
Old Posted Sep 20, 2011, 6:36 PM
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That Parkway is about to kick into high gear. It would be great to get some photos of the construction on here considering it's one of the largest engineering projects in Canada over the next few years. The only problem is it's tough to get a good vantage point to get the shots.
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  #50  
Old Posted Sep 21, 2011, 2:35 AM
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Once some overpasses get built, they would make the perfect places to take pictures.

Although it would be nice to see some completed/underway projects like 401/dougal and 401/3 interchanges.
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  #51  
Old Posted Sep 21, 2011, 6:31 AM
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Hmmm, I thought it still had a 'secret number' depsite the fact that the province dumped responsibility for it.
It was designated Hwy #2 for awhile before the province unloaded it in 1997.

http://www.thekingshighway.ca/Highway2.htm

Last edited by jodelli; Sep 21, 2011 at 6:34 AM. Reason: year correction
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  #52  
Old Posted Sep 21, 2011, 10:54 AM
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Hmmm, I thought it still had a 'secret number' depsite the fact that the province dumped responsibility for it.
It does Blitz, you are right I have seen this secret highway number before I know I have. Ahh, found it. It is listed as Ontario highway 7087. It is listed above the map on the right hand side of the Wikipedia entry. If you google 'Ontario highway 7087' all sorts of references to E.C. Row Expressway come up.
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  #53  
Old Posted Sep 21, 2011, 11:51 PM
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The magical 7000 series. OoOOoOoOooOO
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  #54  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2011, 2:06 AM
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I will try and see if I can get some photos going on this project. It's such a big project and the are soo few of us Windsorites on this forum to document it.
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  #55  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2011, 3:00 PM
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^ I think there are only 4 Windsorites on this forum, kind of sad.
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  #56  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2011, 8:36 PM
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^ I think there are only 4 Windsorites on this forum, kind of sad.
Well, chalk that up to the lack of development in this city? For too long there have been too many studies and too much debate and not enough shovels in the ground moving this city forward.

Read the comments section @ the Windsor Star to see what kind of people our city's movers and shakers have to deal with. There are too many negative-Nancy's in this town.
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  #57  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2011, 8:50 PM
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Oh I know all about the TROLLS that inhabit the Star website. I no longer post anything on there, just read some of the remarks. Even then I can only take so much negativity, what's wrong with the people in this city? They find flaws even in stories that are possitive and great for this city. I do know that many on there have a grudge against the mayor and council, with many being from CUPE and the Bridge company.
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  #58  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2011, 8:57 PM
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As for lack of developement, I agree, there hasn't been much going on, but that's starting to change now. The city studied everything to death before this council and mayor, and always shelved the results, with nothing ever being built. Hopefully with more developement in the city, more people will come on board.
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  #59  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2011, 9:29 PM
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Originally Posted by north 42 View Post
As for lack of developement, I agree, there hasn't been much going on, but that's starting to change now. The city studied everything to death before this council and mayor, and always shelved the results, with nothing ever being built. Hopefully with more developement in the city, more people will come on board.
I can't believe I read about people having issues with the W-E Parkway now that construction is really ramping up even though we've all known it was eventually coming for what, 10 years now?

Some people amaze me.

Yay for progress!!
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  #60  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2011, 10:46 PM
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I know, other cities would die to have this parkway built in their community, yet here there are still people who want to stick with the 1960s infrastructure, and small minded thinking.
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