Amid disappointment over the decision to abandon
plans for a new span, some still see the benefits of the long review process
The spirit of Daniel Patrick Moynihan keeps fading
from the Peace Bridge saga.
The late U.S.
senator from New York
inspired many in the late 1990s with his call for an iconic bridge across the
border as “a new gateway, a defining moment of entry.”
So did Swiss bridge designer Christian Menn, who in
2002 proposed a soaring cable-stayed design because “I thought you should have
the courage to build a big bridge between these two big nations.”
But Menn’s words seem as distant as when then-Gov.
Eliot L. Spitzer, becoming the first New
York governor to address the Buffalo Common
Council, insisted in 2007 that “we are dedicated to making it happen.”
The news late last week that the proposal for a new
companion bridge to the Peace Bridge has
reached a dead end disappointed many in the community.
The Peace Bridge Authority, formally known as the
Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, announced it would pursue a
plaza upgrade with its own money and drop the idea for a new bridge and new
plaza — at least for now — because federal aid has dried up. Read more here.
