Only Fitting to Have So Many Opitions for a Bridge with so Many Names

Thank You City Council!  For once I saw a Council do its job and make a decision that makes sense and isn't influenced by the Tree Hugging, New Age, Idealistic Hippy (THNAIH) crowd with their "pie in the sky" attitude. When I first heard there were 10 options for the river crossing (many of which didn't include vehicular traffic) I was scared we would soon be on the roll to banning the automobile from our city altogether.  Council's decision put the focus squarely where it should be, replacement of this bridge for the reason it currently exists. This bridge crossing is not only important to the residence of the city but especially for those living west of Broadway on the East side of the city.   I decided to head out to the open house at Victoria school last night to see and hear what was being discussed.  It amazed me although it shouldn't have, that the THNAIH group was out in full force catching people as they entered the gymnasium to expound on the treachery of the 6 Councilors that robbed them of their precious "GREEN" alternatives they had so eagerly and magically come up with.  Henry Ford had it right "you can have any colour of car you want as long as it is black".  That is the type of choice the citizens of Saskatoon need.  There was even one individual trying to tell people what we needed was a "Market" bridge similar to those in Europe.  Get real people the farmers market is empty most days.  And for the "save our History" group maybe they should all head down and take a look at what they are trying to save.  I run under and over this bridge 4-5 times a week.  Yes I wear a helmet just in case.  THE BRIDGE IS FINISHED!!!!! the consultant that was hired to give the estimates is doing us all a disservice in insinuating it would only be approx. $27 million to refurbish.  With all the environmental regulations a rehabilitation would more than double the cost as you would need to build a support structure just to work off while doing the remediation.

What is interesting is which Councilors voted to save the vehicle traffic, other than Penner, the others where all from the West side of Saskatoon (Wyant, Heidt, Neault, Lorje).  The East side Councilors (Pringle,Clarke, Dube, Paulsen) voted to keep us spinning our wheels (as long as they are on a bicycle, roller blades or a stroller).

So what does the Road Warrior believe to be the best solution.  I like the idea of creating a new bridge to the new standards for road widths and if even possible 4 lanes and sure make it looks like the old bridge if you like, but never forget that the link over the river is more important than the link to the past.

And as Larry the Cable Guy says "GIT-R-DONNNNNNNNNE!"