Last week, state and federal agencies rejected the new Peace Bridge design, concerned about the impact on wildlife. But now efforts are underway to keep the project on track.
A high level meeting is planned for Thursday in Washington D.C., as federal lawmakers try to salvage years worth of planning to start building a new bridge to Canada by the end of next year.
The sudden decision to reject plans for a cable-stayed bridge at the Peace Bridge has triggered quick action by the region's congressional delegation. "We're trying to see if we can still salvage the great signature bridge," said Senator Charles Schumer, D-NY.
Schumer is calling together his WNY colleagues...as well as the the heads of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Federal Highway Administration..who Schumer says were unaware of the objections to the bridge design. Environmental agencies raised concerns about the impact on the "common tern" bird. "The common tern is not much different than a sea gull and it's hardly an endangered species," said Schumer. "Evidentally it was people at the lower levels of agency speculating and somehow that got out of hand."
Peace Bridge Authority General Manager Ron Rienas said, "If there can be a decision that overturns the earlier views of those agencies that would be tremendous."
The Peace Bridge Authority hopes the final approvals come soon - so it can get to work on the engineering and property acquisition... to begin construction by late 2009.
Still, a spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration says a study will have to be done to make sure that the design does not impact migratory birds - and that could take 18 to 24 months. "The experts suggest that the possibility could be that they would have to change the design," said Doug Hecox, of FHWA. "The federal dollars that would be applied toward a project like this do have some rules that have to be observed."
There's another side to this issue: approval from Canadian environmental agencies. Meetings are underway today in Ottawa and it remains to be seen what officials there have to say about this design.
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