Councillor proposes alternate route to Dougall cycling tunnel

As Windsor works on its plan to build a cycling tunnel underthe CN rail overpass on Dougall Avenue, one councillor has another solution to connecting the city's southern neighbourhoods to the downtown core.

Coun. Paul Borrelliwants city engineers to study the feasibility of building up bike infrastructure along Dominion Boulevard, which would allow cyclists to avoid the tight and dangerous squeeze as they ride along Dougall Avenue near the E.C. Row Expressway.

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Borrelli still supports the proposal to build a tunnel under the CN rail overpass, which is estimated to cost $1 million, but he says that project could take up to two years or more to complete. His solution would connect the city for cyclists and pedestrians much sooner.

"The CN tunnel is a good option, but I'm just trying to explore other alternatives," he said.

Tunnel is the only option

Bike Windsor Essex officials don't like Borrelli'sidea, which would forcecyclists and pedestrians to travelseveral more kilometres by heading much further west to Dominion and eventually Campbell Avenue before finally reaching the downtown.

"Putting people off several kilometres on a separate route would not even be a temporary solution to the issue," said Lori Newton of Bike Windsor Essex."We're really, really looking for a direct connection and we're hopeful this is going to happen in as timely a fashion our city can make it happen."

Borrellisays negotiating with CN for a tunnel under the overpass could take longer than two years before the tunnel is built. Even when it is built, the Ward 10 councillorsays cycling along Ouellette Avenue will still be a dangerous route for cyclists.

"Even if you have a cyclist go through the tunnel to Dougall toward TecumsehRoad, it's going to be a very challenging route," he said. "If you take Ouellette, that's going to be equally, if not impossible, to go that route."

Newton disagrees with that assessment as well. She and other proponents of the tunnel recognize the project could take years, but they know there is no other alternative for a direct route to the downtown.

"If there had been a viable route, there would have been some remedy, but we haven't been able to fix it because there is no viable route," she said. "It's just the way Windsor was built and it was built for cars. It's a complicated problem and it's going to take a lot of work to get it to work for everyone."