Advocates promote need for new Louise Bridge
An awareness campaign on the need to replace an aging Winnipeg bridge continues eight years after local two politicians came together to promote the issue.
Jason Schreyer, the city councillor for Elmwood-East Kildonan, and Jim Maloway, the NDP MLA for Elmwood, first put together an information pamphlet on the Louise Bridge and advocated for its replacement in 2014.
On Saturday, Schreyer was back at it, with a new pamphlet but an old message: the need for provincial and federal funding for a Louise Bridge replacement.
He was joined by other concerned citizens near the bridge, handing out information and relaying the importance of one of Winnipeg’s oldest river crossings.
“We’re just reminding all levels of government that this is important,” said Schreyer. “It’s so important that they built this bridge first. That’s how important it is.”
Schreyer said the Louise Bridge, as it stands today, rests on crumbling footings in the Red River and is in need of replacement.
“Despite all the projects enhancing our infrastructure maintaining your infrastructure is the best you can do,” said Schreyer.
The Louise Bridge replacement has now been tethered to two other city development projects, according to Schreyer, the first being an eastern transit corridor into Transcona with the other being a reconfiguration of local traffic in the area.
“The engineers at city hall knew that we had to deal with the bridge sooner or later but politics can get in the way of engineering and this was deprioritized for a while,” said Schreyer.
“This is not about political priorities, this is about engineering priorities and important infrastructure.”
Now that the bridge project is linked to other city development plans, Schreyer said getting a new bridge is inevitable, but government funding is still needed.
“Regardless of what they do first, whether it’s the transit corridor to Transcona or changing the transportation and street routing here,” sad Schreyer. “First things first you still need a new Louise Bridge and then all can spring from there.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.