Ford says only PC government can ensure twinning of St. Catharines bridge; Liberals strongly disagree
Published May 19, 2022 at 11:50 am
During his Niagara-on-the-Lake campaign stop this morning, PC leader Doug Ford said only his government will commit to the twinning of the Garden City Skyway.
Creating a second highway on the north side of the Garden City Skyway has been in the plans since an engineering firm told the Liberal government back in 2014 that the roadway would have to be replaced by 2025. This was four years before Ford’s government won the election.
As well, Will Wuehr, the Regional Press Secretary for the Ontario Liberal Party, assured Insauga that the Skyway twinning was also in the Liberal’s election platform.
In fact, Liberal leader Steven Del Duca had this to say. “Ontario Liberals will twin the Garden City Skyway and deliver real relief to commuters in the Niagara Region. The Ford Conservatives waited four years to include it in their platform. After the past four years of broken promises, nobody should believe that they’ll follow through on their latest platform.”
That said, Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney did include the twinning of the Garden City Skyway, which connects St. Catharines to Niagara-on-the-Lake running over the Welland Canal, in a massive multi-billion-dollar transportation plan released by the government over two years ago.
The plan lumped the twinning of the Garden City Skyway in a huge plan that includes the controversial and highly unpopular Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass projects. In essence, what the MTO okayed for the Garden City Skyway is now a tiny footnote in a much larger plan.
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“Building a new and expanded Garden City Skyway bridge will be a game changer for the people of St. Catherine’s and Niagara region, getting them where they need to go faster and without the hassle of sitting in traffic,” said Ford at his Niagara-on-the-Lake campaign stop at 10:30 am this morning.
“The Del Duca-Wynne Liberals failed to build roads, highways and bridges, leaving drivers stuck in gridlock. Andrea Horwath and the NDP are opposed to building anything,” said Ford.
This new bridge will be a crucial link between Ontario’s international border crossings at Niagara Falls and Fort Erie and the Greater Golden Horseshoe, playing an important role in boosting economic growth in the region.
“Ontarians can’t go back to the delays of the build-nothing Del Duca-Wynne Liberals,” added Ford. “The Liberals and NDP will find any reason to say ‘no’ with endless studies, reports and committees. Only the Ontario PCs will get it done for drivers and local businesses by building the Garden City Skyway bridge expansion.”
By the start of 2024, the twin highway to the Garden City Skyway will be built on the north side between the present bridge and Lake Ontario. Once, the new highway is created, all QEW traffic will be diverted onto it while crews repair the existing Skyway.
Once that patchwork is done, the new north Skyway will handle all Toronto-bound traffic while the existing but repaired Skyway will handle the Niagara-bound traffic.
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