Environmental report has it right:

[rick]

Posted By The Review

Ontario's environment commissioner Gord Miller has raised some important concerns in his annual report released this week. Miller is not a fan of the proposed mid-peninsula highway in Niagara. And with good reason.

Miller said that new highways threaten to entrench urban sprawl and create even more of a reliance on the automobile.

"We can't keep building infrastructure to cater to a car culture," he said.

He's right.

It's a message that needs to be heard and digested for those who believe a mid-Niagara highway and economic prosperity go hand-in-hand.

A study has indicated there is great potential for economic growth and others have argued that another highway is needed to ease congestion on the Queen Elizabeth Way.

But there are other considerations.

The QEW is being expanded to six lanes through St. Catharines, all the way to Mountain Road in Niagara Falls to carry more vehicles.

There are some projections that the price of gasoline could hit $1.50 by next summer - not exactly an incentive to get people on the road to drive.

Look at the experience elsewhere. There are plenty of highways around Windsor, Detroit and Buffalo. These places are not exactly hubs of economic prosperity.

The road to economic prosperity isn't paved in asphalt.

Highways certainly play a role, but it is transportation that is more important.

We already have a transportation infrastructure in Niagara - the QEW, Highway 406 (which should be expanded through to Port Colborne), rail lines and a ship canal capable of handling ocean-going freighters.

Another highway at the expense of the loss of agricultural land, green space and more urban sprawl is not the answer.

What's needed is a better way to get people and goods from one point to another - and that doesn't necessarily have to be by road.

That could be accomplished through car ferries to Toronto and an expansion in rapid transit lines to and from Niagara, combined with the expansion of the QEW that is now taking place.

The notion that a road will fix our ills is a red herring tossed out there by governments without vision or the courage to be enterprising and inventive.

Yet our politicians can't get past their love for concrete, concrete and more concrete. We learned from a census report this week, for example, that the number of people leaving Niagara is increasing. What do we do to fix that? Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey says we have to build the mid-pen highway. Welland's economic development officer claims the same.

Where have we heard this before? From virtually every elected official in this region. Perhaps their refusal to innovate is the reason we're losing people. Maybe we're making the wrong choices at election times.

Now there's a new and novel approach to our woes.

Creativity and innovation are integral components of economic prosperity.

A new highway isn't the answer.

Have your say on today's editorial.

Join the discussion at www.niagarafallsreview.ca.

[Tom Chopin]

I used the new Red River Valley Expressway in Hamilton to get to Bay City Marine on the hamilton mountain this morning and it was AWESOME! Saved me 10-15 minutes going up Centennial and across Mud rd. I say bring on the Highways!! (Just don't sell them this time!)

[rick]

Sorry Tom, but I like people who think outside the box. A city needs more funds? Raise taxes. The highways are getting plugged up? Build more. It's always the same old solutions by politicians, nobody likes to put their heads together and come up with new fixes anymore. That's why I posted this one, same old same old.

[Tom Chopin]

Good point but I think with traffic comes business, so if you were King for a day what would you do to improve the ecomony in Welland or Port Colborne?

I see lots of new buildings on the QEW in Grimsby/Stoneycreek and lots around the new 403 extension through Brantford. I'm betting it was access to highways that is the reason for those building are where they are.

[smerchly]

When I was a teen ,I worked on various farms in the Port Dalhousie area , picking fruit & berries......bought my first car with the money . The soil along Lakeshore Rd. just past Lighthouse Rd. and also along Ontario St. bordering the Martindale pond area (Ziraldo Farms) , was the most fertile soil I've seen anywhere .....very sandy-loamy soil . It is now 100% full of housing & ashphalt .

As strange as it may seem Tom.....where you are sitting , I used to eat grapes from that spot where your house sits ! There were some ponds , and lots of critters like frogs and we hunted rabbits & pheasants there. What a dramatic change I've seen in 50 short years .

The Niagara area has been dubbed the " Fruit Belt" & St.Catharines has been called the "Garden City" . We are rapidly losing that status. Will we be buying most of our fruit from the U.S. or even China ,at whatever their price is ,since we will not have any farms here to buy from ?

It seems we Canadians could care less where the products we buy come from ,thus, we import huge quantities of goods from tea kettles to trucks.........speaking of trucks..........Since we buy so much from the other side of the world , we need huge boats which burn tons of fuel to get here , then thousands of trucks to clog the roads (and tear them up along with shaking bridges apart) , and tons more fuel,and we will be paying big time for the repairs.....maybe through higher gas prices or road tolls . I'll bet those big north american corporations who set up in China have shares in oil . And the goverments get lots of tax from the millions of liters of fuel used daily to deliver those goods.

This all fits in with destroying more farm land to build more roads , put up more housing and plazas....but where do we draw the line and say.......we need farmland to feed the future generations , or will we let the other counties feed us ? The goverment wants to keep "growing" at any cost to the environment ,but our infrastructure is falling apart . Our sewers can't keep up ......they tell us to go easy on our electric use because of shortages ( but build those monster homes with saunas, hot tubs , air cond. etc) .

It's our kids future we are paving over ......do we all have to look like Toronto and have no green space left ? Does anyone care that the rain forests are being chopped down at a rate of many acres per hour ?

The answer is money ! The politicos don't care about the environment .I hope the farmers & the people affected by this mid hwy. really put up a fight and I'll pitch in with funds , to fight to keep the thing from being built .

Our road problems are our fault .......get ready to dig deep into your wallets for infrastructure repairs . .....buy a Tiny car to save gas then watch the price double ........I have to give the big boys credit , they know how to manipulate us peons like puddy ......which is no surprise ,since they feather the bed for the government , and own the media ........Many of the decisions that happen now are greatly influenced by other countries that own just about all of the big businesses here.......have to wonder how much say do we really have anyway .

We have hwy 3 , hwy 20 , & the qew . They can all be widened & improved on . There are too many people commuting long distances to work each day . Make use of the rails , buses and boats , or move to the job site .

[bigugli]

Good point but I think with traffic comes business, so if you were King for a day what would you do to improve the ecomony in Welland or Port Colborne?

I see lots of new buildings on the QEW in Grimsby/Stoneycreek and lots around the new 403 extension through Brantford. I'm betting it was access to highways that is the reason for those building are where they are.

A certain number of those new buildings are retail. Bring in subdivisions and the retail follows. A lot of times businesses locate close to transport, or resouces, or customers. Others are lured through municipal business plans which offer incentives, core service discounts and, yes, tax holidays for a newly built factory that brings jobs.

Even if they started on the new highway tomorrow, It would be 5 years before approvals and 15 more before completion. The QEW runs right through St Kitts and industry is still dying in that city.