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Proposed bridge toll location not city’s choice
be even healthier for our econo m ies and our people.” Saaltink was at cit y council last Monda y to present a report on the bridge project, including the bridge corporation’s plan to keep its tolls in Cornwall, just to the west of the new span. He said a recent surve y found bridge us- ers “quite divided” on the issue toll location, with about one-third content to have the toll booth located in Cornwall. He added he is “quite confident” that if the cit y had “issues” with the proposed lo- cation of the new toll plaza that it could be resolved through talks with the bridge cor- poration. If there is still no resolution, the cit y can discuss with issue further with Micheline Dube, president and CEO of the Federal Bridge Corporation, he suggested. The bridge corporation also ca m e under fire for collecting tolls fro m local travelers, especiall y those crossing to attend func- tions on Cornwall Island as well as the price of the tolls co m pared to other crossings. “Wh y is it alwa y s the highest (cost) cross- ing point when we have so m uch travel?” questioned Councillor Gerr y Sa m son, who said so m e people are evening crossing b y boat to avoid the toll charge. But Saaltink argued the bridge corpora-
GREG KIELEC greg.kielec@eap.on.ca
CORNWALL | The city may have to meet with the local bridge corporation’s “po- litical masters” if the government agency ignores the city’s opposition to the pro- posed location of a new bridge toll, says the city’s mayor. Bob Kilger issued the threat at the end of a presentation to cit y council last about plans for the $75- m illion low level bridge now under construction, and the thorn y is- sue of where the bridge toll should be lo- cated. “I’ll leave it to my colleagues, in their col- lective wisdo m , to decide if that is a path the y wish to pursue after this evening,” Kilg- er said, after questioning Hendrik Saaltink, general m anager of the Seawa y Interna- tional Bridge Corporation. In a subsequent interview with The Jour- nal, Kilger said he was not frustrated with the bridge corporation. But he sees the toll as a stu m bling block to strengthening the bond between Cornwall and Akwesasne. “I just see the toll as a barrier. It’s a trade barrier, it’s a cultural barrier. It doesn’t en- courage the kind of exchanges that would
Archives photo
Cars line up at the toll booth at the foot of the Seaway International Bridge in Corn- wall on Thursday morning. A proposal to keep the tolls in Cornwall when the new low-level bridge is completed has raised the ire of some city councillors.
tion has done a “diligent job” keeping the tolls affordable while generating enough revenue to operate the bridge crossings. “I don’t see an y conflict with fairness there.” “You’re pa y ing for so m ething. We don’t alwa y s like to pa y for so m ething – it’s irritat- ing, but it’s all part of a s y ste m .” Past surve y s have found “people don’t generall y object to tolling”, but the y don’t like waiting in line “to use the facilit y ,” es- peciall y co mm ercial travelers, Saaltink said. “That has a bigger econo m ic i m pact.”
“The bridge corporation is ver y sensitive to the needs of all crossing users. Ever y y ear, two to three y ears, we conduct surve y s of our bridge users,” Saaltink said. “We are tr y ing to walk a balance between the needs of all crossing users and our needs as a corporation with fiscal respon- sibilit y , because at the end of the da y , we have had y ears where we have m ade ver y , ver y little m one y . In actual fact, we have had y ears where we lost m one y .”
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