Welland Tribune e-edition

Does costly skyway twinning make sense?

With gasoline in Ontario selling for an average of $1.99 per litre on Monday — and higher than that at some places across Niagara — two headlines that appeared here on the Niagara Dailies websites over the past week were especially intriguing.

First this one, from Thursday: “Ford promises ‘faster and safer’ drive with twinning of Garden City Skyway.”

And then this one, which appeared online Monday: “Passengers cite affordability, convenience of weekend GO train service between Toronto and Niagara Falls.”

Yes, this is a provincial election year and being able to reannounce a commitment to build what likely would be a billiondollar-plus twin for the existing skyway linking St. Catharines and Niagara-on-the-Lake must be awfully hard to resist for a sitting premier like Doug Ford.

Maybe the plan even makes sense. (although the fact it has been sitting on the government’s back burner for the past 10 years and comes up again now during an election campaign makes us suspicious.

As does the lack of data and other information being offered to prove the need for such a mammoth project.)

It’s a big, shiny ball to hold up for local voters. An attentiongrabber, for sure.

Maybe it’s even a big enough distraction to make voters forget that three of Ford’s four local Progressive Conservative candidates are refusing to take part in candidates debates, to share their plans with local voters in a public forum or to sit for newspaper interviews prior to the election, a pattern being seen in ridings all across Ontario.

But we digress.

The second headline, regarding the popularity of the summer GO trains between Niagara and Toronto, is further reason to question Ford’s plan to twin the skyway.

Gas prices have never been as high as they are now and there is nothing on the horizon to make us think they might start to come down any time soon, let alone level off.

The ideal plan for the future would be to have far fewer gasburning vehicles on the road. There would be less pollution, lower maintenance costs for highways, possibly fewer crashes.

But the ideal plan has been a dream.

The practical plan, grounded in reality, is that the automobile remains the most convenient, quickest way to get from Point A to Point B, even with all its drawbacks. It just is.

But what if, say a year from now, gas prices are still high?

And even if they do fall, let’s say by 20 per cent — an extreme price drop for any commodity — that would still leave gasoline selling for about $1.60 a litre.

If that were the case, would it be enough to make people cut back on their highway excursions in their cars, vans or SUVs?

The people who piled on and off the GO trains in Niagara Falls over the weekend cited the rail trip as being much more affordable than going by car, especially considering the cost of parking and, for some, of renting a vehicle.

Circumstances like sky-high fuel prices and parking costs are making train travel more attractive than ever. And while the Niagara-Toronto GO trains are far more popular in the summer than during the rest of the year, that could change if prices don’t come down.

All of which raises the question: Wouldn’t it make more sense to expand the off-summer GO service here and promote it heavily to generate ridership, rather than building a bigger skyway with all the related costs that taxpayers would be paying off for years?

With prices so high, it seems like an expanded GO train service during fall and winter months would be an easy sell as an attractive alternative to costly car trips to and from Toronto.

If it worked, maybe we wouldn’t need a new skyway.

OPINION

en-ca

2022-05-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://wellandtribune.pressreader.com/article/281565179380294

Toronto Star Newspapers Limited