MORE SUGGESTIONS OFFERED ABOUT BRIDGE PLANS

[CITY Edition]

Buffalo News

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Print Media Edition: Financial edition

Buffalo, N.Y.

Oct 14, 1999

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Authors: TOM ERNST

Pagination: C8

Personal Names: Brown, Clinton Dale

Abstract:

Twelve alternatives for a new bridge across the Niagara River are

before

the Peace Bridge Public Review Steering Committee, but that doesn't

mean

all the bases have been covered.

Members of the public added some new suggestions -- and repeated a lot

of old ones -- during a public hearing Wednesday that was broadcast

from

the WNED-TV studios. A second hearing will be held at 5 p.m. today.

Wednesday's

session was knocked off the air for 12 minutes due to the electrical

storm.

Several speakers, while not endorsing a specific signature bridge plan,

called for something more spectacular than a companion span to the

current

bridge, as the Peace Bridge Authority proposed.

Full Text:

Twelve alternatives for a new bridge across the Niagara River are

before

the Peace Bridge Public Review Steering Committee, but that doesn't

mean

all the bases have been covered.

Members of the public added some new suggestions -- and repeated a lot

of old ones -- during a public hearing Wednesday that was broadcast

from

the WNED-TV studios. A second hearing will be held at 5 p.m. today.

Wednesday's

session was knocked off the air for 12 minutes due to the electrical

storm.

Three possible plaza locations, five bridge types and various

alignments

have been identified as meriting further study by engineering

consultants

hired by the committee.

Dr. Jamson S. Lwebuga-Mukasa of the University at Buffalo Medical

School,

said the asthma rate among children living on the West Side is two or

three

times the national average and having as many as twice as many trucks

now traveling through the area will only add to the problem.

Several speakers, while not endorsing a specific signature bridge plan,

called for something more spectacular than a companion span to the

current

bridge, as the Peace Bridge Authority proposed.

State Sen. Anthony Nanula, D-Buffalo, said a bridge can be both

functional

and pleasing to the eye.

As an international crossing, the bridge "can also make a statement

about

the future of the city," he said.

"I hope the Peace Bridge Authority will in good faith work with the

community"

he said of an agreement reached Wednesday between the authority and the

steering committee.

Philip Rumore, president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation but

speaking

as a private citizen, called for a signature bridge saying some leaders

opposed to it "would instead have their own mediocrity prevail."

Clinton Brown of SuperSpan Upper Niagara said there is a fourth element

-- parks -- that should be added to elements of a bridge, plaza and

connecting

roadways in the engineers' report.

"Why trade park land for a duty-free shop?" he asked.

Referring to the various government permits required for a bridge,

Brown

said, "The people of Buffalo and Fort Erie are the No. 1 permitters of

the project."

The report refers to environmental "constraints" such as Front and

LaSalle

parks. "When is a park a constraint?" Brown asked. "When an engineer

wants

to speed traffic."

John F. Downing, former deputy mayor and former executive deputy

director

of the state Department of Transportation, said some of the arguments

for

a signature span are not grounded in reality.

He referred to "beauty and grandeur ending abruptly at the shorelines

only

to be replaced by major engineering problems."

Good connections to the Thruway are vital to any successful bridge "and

cannot be left to conceptual imagery" and further delaying the project

would be expensive.

Lawlor Quinlan, an attorney, said engineers should look for innovative

ways to build the plazas using less space so that parkland can be

restored.

The "erector set" of an arch now across the Black Rock Canal compounds

the problem of building a three-lane span, because it would not be

duplicated

exactly and the new bridge would be a "companion" rather than a "twin"

to the current bridge, he said.

Credit: News Staff Reporter