Mayor Keith Hobbs said if he’d been told the James Street Swing Bridge would not be opened a year after the fire that closed it last Oct. 29, he never would have believed it.
But 365 days later Hobbs said there’s no real solution in sight, adding it’ll be up to CN officials to come to the table with an acceptable deal.
It’s their bridge, Hobbs said on Wednesday.
“Other communities have battled with big corporations, even CN and the railroads. They have deep pockets. We don’t intend to cost our taxpayers tax dollars over this issue when it’s not our bridge. CN owns it,” Hobbs said.
“I’ve said all along I’m not sticking the city taxpayers with a $3-million debt over somebody else’s bridge,” Hobbs said.
The mayor, who before the election said he thought the bridge would be opened to vehicular traffic – it opened to rail traffic days after the fire – by Christmas.
CN presented an offer, which the city rejected. The deal would have seen vehicles and trains share the rail deck in a single lane. But the offer also called for a renegotiation of a 1906 agreement signed with the city of Fort William which called on the railway to maintain the bridge in perpetuity.
Fort William First Nation, through the federal government, had offered to put up $1 million of the expected cost.
Chief Georjann Morisseau is not happy at the continued delay.
"It's very disappointing because we're now at the a year's time and I think we would all have anticipated we would have that bridge open a heck of a lot sooner that one year's time. It's quite sad, but at the same time working with CN and the city, CN's been completely unreasonable and this is exactly a result of that happening," Morriseau said.
The bridge closure has had a major economic impact on her community.
Earlier this year, an open house to discuss the closure, residents were told some estimates suggested reserve businesses were losing $50,000 a day.
"You look at the city of Thunder Bay, especially the Westfort residents and they are definitely feeling the impact," Morriseau said. "I drive down Frederica Street now and I see it's not the same booming business it was beforehand. And we can empathize with that and we can relate because we're dealing with the same impacts on our side.
"Both the mayor and I have been consistent in our support in wanting to do to get this bridge open. But we're not going to be liable for CN and we're not going to be liable for their mistakes and their unreasonable decision-making."
Hobbs and Morriseau each said the biggest impact has been safety, with emergency vehicles forced to travel longer distances to get to FWFN and the increased traffic trying to merge onto and off of Highway 61.
Hobbs also acknowledged the economics are affecting people in both communities.
“It’s really affected Fort William First Nation. It’s impacted Westfort for sure and other businesses because a lot of people do their grocery shopping in Thunder Bay,” Hobbs said. “Both communities have been financially impacted. The only one that hasn’t been financially impacted is CN.”
CN officials were also contacted by CKPR Radio for this story, but did not immediately return an interview request.
