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The Peace Bridge Authority is scrapping plans to build a signature bridge. Do you agree or disagree?

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Published: July 7, 2011

  • From many perspectives, I think the indefinite postponement of expanding the Peace Bridge is long overdue. There has been no transportation justification for a long time because the tie up has been in customs and immigration. Furthermore, in the face of global climate change coupled with peak oil, we will see a decline in the use of trucks for moving our things because of cost. If we want to demand a large public works project, then this community should organize and push for a new railroad crossing, as the 1873 International Bridge needs updating. This project would prepare us for the next economy, unlike the proposed Peace Bridge expansion that is about playing catch-up with the old one. The bridge was only a part of the plan. The proposed plaza on the U.S. side was much more destructive of the city of Buffalo, taking what Olmsted called “The High Bank” and turning it into a parking lot for large trucks. This is not a good land use decision for one of the city’s most spectacular views of the lake and river. Further, the health consequences of the existing Peace Bridge and plaza configuration is reflected in the amount and kind of air pollution on the West Side with increases of all kinds of respiratory problems. Imagine the impact of increased truck traffic and idling. So you ask me what I think? Hurrah! It’s about time to put that ill-conceived project to rest.

    Lynda Schneekloth
    Professor Emeritus
    School of Architecture and Planning

  • The 10-year deliberations for a proposed new Peace Bridge span were impressive in that the process was very thorough and many voices were heard. Future generations, however, may view the outcome as lack of inertia. I am glad to see the preservation of Buffalo neighborhoods that were threatened with demolition, but it in the end, it was a lack of funding that killed the idea for a new span.

    Daniel B. Hess
    Associate Professor
    Department of Urban and Regional Planning

  • Buffalo has the legacy of being a city of architectural icons and innovation, a “City of Light,” excelling in aesthetic and technological achievements. Currently, it boasts one of the most active, productive and progressive arts communities nationwide. On the other side of the border, the province of Ontario is a central economic and cultural powerhouse of Canada. The fact that the Peace Bridge Authority has chosen to retreat to a conventional and, to put it bluntly, dull design for a major bi-national bridge is immensely disappointing. A signature structure, be it a tower, building or bridge, puts a city on the map. For instance, one of the premier associations with San Francisco is the Golden Gate Bridge. This bridge is the entrance to nations; it should certainly live up to its importance as a bi-national symbol and as an exemplary display of excellence and vision in both contemporary design and state-of-the-art technology.

    Millie Chen
    Chair, Associate Professor
    Department of Visual Studies

  • Oh, the signature bridge, the signature bridge. The original plan, from 1997, you may recall, was for a functional, utilitarian bridge. UB Professor Bruce Jackson and Bruno Freschi, then dean of the UB School of Architecture and Planning, helped formulate and publicize the idea that as a new bridge was going to be built, it should bet gorgeous and singular. Marvelous designs (really spectacular) were solicited; cost estimates, environmental consequences, and US and Canadian bridge plaza designs were debated. Then came 9-11, followed by complicated and much-argued security concerns that mucked things up further. There was at least one lawsuit. Today, despite the increased traffic provoked by security demands and the popularity of Canadian gambling venues, we’re stuck with no new bridge at all and ever-more-brutal traffic jams that severely inhibit what once was common, casual, comfortable cross-border travel. Time, war and the scurrilous Peace Bridge Authority, which never wanted a signature bridge (nor anyone else mixing in “its” business), have won. It would have been wonderful and I was a huge fan, but I’m older now, so if you will excuse me, I will slither back into my dark, ancestral cave, the womb from which mankind emerged into the light.

    Patricia Donovan
    Senior Editor
    University Communications

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