Four designs to get more trucks across the Niagara River

Sometime in mid-October 200, the Peace Bridge Expansion Project—the operation headed by Vincent "Jake" Lamb assigned the task of making bridge location and design recommendations to the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority—distributed a CD-ROM with four JPG files on it. The files contained images of four computer-generated designs for bridges that would expand current truck capacity across the Niagara River.

I don't know how or when other people got their copies of the disk. The Buffalo News ran a big article about the plans in its Sunday, October 20, issue, so I assume they got their copy of the disk sometime last week. Someone left a copy of the disk in a white tyvek envelope in the front entryway of my house the following evening, October 21.

On the front of the envelope was a Travers Collins and Co. sticker with my name handwritten on it. Travers Collins and Co. handles public relations for the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority. There was also a stickum note that said, "Bruce—check your e-mail for written materials." I did that. I checked my email for written materials but there weren't any.

This is, I think, a very weird way to distribute information about what's going on in the Peace Bridge Expansion project. I bet the Buffalo News didn't get their copy with that kind of cryptic note about e-mail info that didn't exist.
Had it not been for Patrick Lakamp's article in the Sunday, October 20, Buffalo News I wouldn't have had any idea what the disk was about. I thought there were a lot of problems with Lakamp's article (see "Heading for a wreck at Peace Bridge Plaza"BR 22 October 2002), but without his article the disk that someone dropped in the entryway to my house the night of October 21 would have been a real puzzlement.

The Buffalo News published Swiss bridge engineer Christian Menn's design in full color on page 1. It published the other three designs in greyscale on page A6. In case you'd like to see what all four of them look like in color, click anywhere in the highlighted phrases in the following descriptive sentences:

Christian Menn, who was told to design whatever he thought best, suggested a double-pylon suspension bridge alongside the current bridge.

The late Gene Figg's firm came up with two designs, apparently responding to assignments from Lamb, a single-pylon cable stayed bridge (which would replace the current bridge entirely) and a triple-arch suspension bridge (which would be a companion span).

A Danish firm, Dissing and Weitling, came up with a mixture of five support piers in the water and a suspension pylon on land on the American side.

—B.J.

for an analysis of what seems to be going on in the Peace Bridge expansion process, see "Heading for a wreck at Peace Bridge Plaza"
click here for the previous articles in the Peace Bridge Chronicles