We need a better plan for the Disraeli Freeway situation

With a provincial budget coming up, and with both the federal and provincial governments talking about investing in Infrastructure, we need to make sure the money is spent wisely and strategically.

In 2010, the Disraeli Freeway is scheduled to be closed for renovations and rebuilding of the bridge. Closing the bridge without improving traffic flow in other ways will cause severe disruptions for those who live in north-east Winnipeg.

Regan Wolform, our candidate in the by-election in Elmwood, and I were at the Louise Bridge site today to push for action on options for twinning the Louise Bridge - in effect adding two additional lanes of traffic at this site. Options 1 and 2 above together with changes to the roads coming into the double bridge to improve traffic flow represent the simplest way of adding additional capacity crossing the Red River. Construction of the second bridge at this site, could, if everyone came together and agreed on this, and the work was done quickly, possibly be done before the Disraeli Bridge reconstruction so that this would dramatically improve traffic flow during periods when the Disraeli Bridge has to be closed for construction.

With new infrastructure funds coming from the federal government, moving forward on this initiative now needs the provincial government to come on board with funding and work with the City of Winnipeg to achieve the accelerated construction of a bridge beside the Louise Bridge to improve traffic flow.

For more on the Disraeli situation see http://betterdisraeli.com/

For more information about Regan Wolfrom see http://www.reganwolfrom.ca/contact/