Looks like the Peace Bridge Authority got what they wanted. A bridge that would satisfy the local labor unions instead of bringing a beautiful architectural gem to the area. Some of the responses are so typical to this area. People saying that they don't care what's we'll have, just as long as it's built. And the sour grapes comments: "I didn't like it anyway" & "other cities already have the same design". Isn't that the mindset that got this region into the mess we are today? This "recent" discovery was so conveniently timed in it's release to the public and to the members of the planning board.. Right near the end of the planning process when people are just desperate to get something in there. Where deadlines need to be kept in order to get the proper funding. Then the authority tells everyone that the only other option is this costlier and, let's be honest, uglier bridge. BS. I hope this goes to court and derails the new plan. They're doing this at a time when they know the public isn't focused on the bridge. They're more focused on the crappy economy, rising gas and food prices, the presidential election, and god help us.. American Idol. It was the public outcry that blocked the first design and the public should do it again.

Oh, and where was the extensive environmental study on the Lackawanna windmills? I'm sure there is some bird that flies around that area and those spinning blades (which aren't lit as well as this signature span would've been) are far more dangerous to migrating birds than a stationary tower.

The thing that I absolutely hate about this story is that it's yet another example of groups in this region not working together to accomplish something. The FHWA should have been involved in this design process from the beginning. At the start of the design submittal, they should have been able to say the bridge should not be taller than X feet, otherwise it could pose a hazard to blah blah blah.

I don't know which group screwed up, the PBA or the FHWA... but if this concern was addressed from the beginning, we could have had a design contest with 10 designs that fit this requirement and chosen the best one. Instead we had a design contest where 9 of 10 proposals eventually would have been nixed because of this restriction. And now we're basically taking the default one.

Don't get me wrong, I actually think the 3 arch design is more suitable to match with the current Peace Bridge. But this story just makes me sick that people with such powerful positions that hold so much responsibility cannot foresee something like this.

Scrapping plan A because of birds is crazyness but I think I like plan B better anyway.

Chris69 and Auburner raise a good point. We have no problem forcing people to migrate out of their homes for the plaza yet we have a huge problem forcing birds to fly around some cables? That doesn't really make sense to me but hey...it's Buffalo.

The design looks kind of 1960's World's Fairish.

SAVE FRONT PARK!

The samrt idea is too stall this project until we get a newly elected President in the U.S. and then renegotiate shared border management inspections be placed in Fort Erie. There is open space there and not an entire community up close to the Peace Bridge area.

A bridge will not speed up truck and car traffic when there are not enough bodies lacking to insepect the passing traffic. I have a truck driver who used to drive the route between Buffalo and Toronto. He hated the wait time he had to endure. These waiting times for trucks produce nitrous oxide emiisions that in sunlight become smog. It goes on all the time. This something that gets the bums rush in being down played. There seams to be zero talk of obstructionism when a persons lungs can no longer pass oxygen into their blood stream because of airborne pollution coming from trucks and cars crossing the Peace Bridge. and harming West Siders repiratory systems.

Please wait till after the election. Too many West Siders have iconic and significant lung blockages.

Will somebody explain why we should build a new bridge instead of hiring more border crossing officers? Traffic on the Peace Bridge will not move through quicker without better staffing in peak times.

St. Louis stole Buffalo's signature (bridge) and is building it as their own Mississippi River crossing. Can we sue them for theft?

Seriously, there is nothing so unique about a cable stayed bridge. Yes, the towers will be tall but that is about the end of it.

Bridge design has probably moved forward some in the last 10 years. Wouldn't it make sense to ask for revised designs based on the new criteria and see what we get?

Up and working...Our new bridge near Keene, NH....No small feat....connecting Libertairan-Conservative New Hampshire to Left-Liberal Vermont...but done because it needed to be done.....Not a bad-looking structure, comparable to it's successor....winner of the 1937 steel bridge design award for its category...See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_SeeBees_Bridge We hope to reuse the old bridge as the Blooming Bridge...a pedestrian public space and tourist attraction....

On the Menn design....It does have a large windage area....Doesn't seem to make sense to me...Buffalo being at the east end of the Lake,...downwind....facing fierce winds...so I think the decision on design choice is more than about the common tern.

Best

Actuall , the Menn design cable bridge looks like 2 bowlegged pinheads taking a crap in the river.

Migrating birds? Migrating birds??? What about the people they are forcing to migrate from thier homes on the west side???

awesome....build it. now. just....build it. yes i want proper thought and consideration given to the plazas and the west side and asthma, but figure it out and do it. I'm gonna go grab some shovels, spray paint them gold and get a head start. you head over to valu to get supplies and meet me down there.

Take a walk on bird island pier. The original bridge is beautiful, in its own right. Why would anyone want to tear it down?

The new design is so plain. I was looking forward to the original choice.

This is nothing short of criminal; and yet I'm reading that the more mediocre bridge should be built because it fits in with its mediocre surroundings, and/or that we need to build it just to get something RIGHT !@#$ING NOW. As the good Dr. Shibley stated, Buffalo had a chance to create a spectacular gateway to the Niagara River and decided against it. Whelp, Buffalo, enjoy your mediocrity.

I DONT CARE....AND I DONT THINK ANYONE CARES

WHAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT IS DESTROYING THE SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOOD FOR AN EXPANDED PLAZA.

THE BRIDGE ISNT THE ISSUE....THE PLAZA IS THE ISSUE

COME ON FOCUS PEOPLE!!!!!!!

Also the fact that there were environmental reasons is ok in my book, we shouldn't assume and destroy habitats for two species just because we need to cross the river, especially when there is an option we know about that wouldn't impact them so much. I also agree with earlier posters that feel these issues should have been brought to the forefront before design because then we would still have options.

I never liked the tower design.. it IS THE SAME BRIDGE that they have in Boston. There isn't anything signature about it. I feel the arched design is actually much nicer and elegant than the initially supported design.

The three arch span is more practical and fits into the existing layout far better than the tower design.

Putting Menn's design in Buffalo is like putting lipstick on a pig. At least the three arch span fits the character of the city. I'm not saying the three arch bridge won't be nice, I just think Menn's design is a tad pretentious for a city that has been debating the additional span for multiple decades.

who cares, just build something!

I like the three arch bridge...def prefer the cable one, but hey, what are you going to do? the three arch bridge is beautiful in it's own right and the area HAS to get moving on building a new one. millions of dollars are ebing lost every year that we wait. i just wish they would take the old one down and build a new six lane (or more) span...i have neevr heard the reaosning behind keeping the old span...anyone know?

I think we should just redesign the bridge.

Close your eyes and imagine this: a giant phallic symbol to manhood, reversed arched over the river.

Combine it all with a re-branding campaign: “Buffalo, we’re cocksure!”

It's better than the companion bridge design the authority tried to push through a few years back. It can't be built soon enough to help the congestion on the Peace Bridge. I am sure the congestion will be worse now that the loony is at par. Will the pending lawsuits regarding the plaza and its effects bring this to a halt? It seems that the plaza issue needs to be settled first. Isn't the land off Amherst street, near the old Tee to the Green being held by a company hoping to build the bridge up there?

I agree they should be thought of together.. but at the same time a bridge landing can always be pushed north and south depending on where the final plaza ends up

I also agree that 'if' the plaza must expand (something I think is a false positive) and will change if we can get a shared border agreement. But that is a whole nothing issue. I also was never impressed by the options for a northern landing, nothing personal if you worked on them. But the idea of loosing all those buildings along Busti and Niagara which Paladino just bought, or shifting Niagara Street over onto Prospect and creating huge ramps and plaza on Niagara would be a disgrace I think.

I always loved the old postcard that shows the bridge emerging the park gracefully and beautifully.. Somehow we should get that back and without shared bored I don't think there is a plaza option worth pursuing.

It just seems to me that the right thing to is just start this whole process over from scratch, maybe shoot for a kick-off meeting sometime early in 2010-11. We can use the time between now and then to have a public conversation.

I think the one we point we can all agree upon is we have yet to have a public conversation regarding the Peace Bridge expansion.

...and boy do we have our fair share of fat ladies

Well....Let's see....Like the comment from the fellow that said building the Menn bridge would be like putting lipstick on a pig...seems to do it for me....

Buffalo seems to be lacking from a lack of imagination on the part of its civic leaders...going back fifty years...sadly it seems the brightest and boldest young people go off to New York City....

Watching the mayor go after the historic ferry Lansdowne confirms my worst opinion of Buffalo....as well as the broadsheet going after the preservationists who wanted to save the S S Canadiana....

If you ask me, the only things Buffalo has going for it....is the misguided Ani DiFranco trying to bring culture in to revive the city; as well as wings at the Anchor....

Poor Buffalo...So far from God...So far from New York City!

SteveFromKeene,NH---And a Patriots fan to boot.

Bob,

I appreciate your well thought out response stated above but do you honestly believe all the crap your shared? This process is being driven by the Public Bridge Authority and no one else. They have manipulated this process from day one and have no intention of building anything but the original plan from 1980.

Having two bridges has little to do with scores - it has everything to do with cost and maintenance. Get it right buddy.

Oh, and by the way, the three arch bridge will go away, too any day now and be replaced with this for some “unfounded” law or reason:

http://www.forteriecanada.com/newdev/resources/new%20span.jpg

And from today's Buffalo News we learn: "Bridge officials doubt the agencies will change their position, and even if they did, pursuing the cable-stayed concept now could put the authority in a vulnerable position if a lawsuit is filed.”

Again, the bridge authority will do what they want regardless of the public will because these new environmental concerns and LAWS that must be followed? That in it self should deliver a lawsuit from the Public! Since when can birds file lawsuits?

And shocker: Higgins & Brown continue to find themselves on the wrong side of issues - everyday.

“Asked why he did not notify his fellow federal lawmakers when he heard about the bird problem, Higgins noted that the Peace Bridge is in his district and that he felt it was his responsibility to write a letter to the transportation secretary and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.”

Come on folks - why else would Higgins not get reach out to others? How more obvious can this be? They kept this close and quiet because of the PBA and their plan. The coordinated response from Higgins and Mayor Brown smells BAD – when this ship goes down with the PBA on it – you’re all going with’em boys.

Anyhow, the Public Bridge Authority continues to affirm its incompetence and corruptness and should dissolve immediately.

Cancel the whole thing. Can this get any worse for the city? Bend over Buffalo, the politicians, Authority and unions are going to see this thing through! Common good be damned!

since when does our government care about the environment? i think the new design is cold, gloomy and depressing, it just wreaks of ancient iron trying to be impressive. I'm sure some smart individual could create bird nets to stabilize the force of impact. Birds hit my gazebo all the time and fly away.

~ Bridge design has probably moved forward some in the last 10 years. Wouldn't it make sense to ask for revised designs based on the new criteria and see what we get? ~

OMG! NO! Build the damn bridge! Can we move forward? PLEASE!

I think the green, steel arches in the original peace bridge are extremely beautiful and striking, especially at night across the Niagara. What I liked about Menn's deisgn is that it preserved the aesthetics of those arches, you can see them and they stand out just was well with the large cable stay bridge right next door. This Figg bridge GREATLY detracts from the aesthetics of those original arches. The pattern of the larger arches is not all all in cohesion with the originals and distracts the whole design. Menn's design was proposed to compliment the original bridge, which he thought was a fantastic bridge. The Figg proposal would look much better as a stand-alone span, it appears to really ignore its context. Couldn't they have at least lined up the footers with the original bridge?

Rally up my friends...send some letters into that broadsheet....I can't....they don't like outsiders....It is easier for me to get my letters in the Times or Post....That newspaper has not been a boon for Buffalo....which why I am here bothering you...

Become bezerkers....shake up those who lead your city....when you have nothing to lose...it frees you up!...makes you interesting....redefines your community...

I work with some defeated communities...Lowell, Ma....Manchester, NH...old mill towns lacking even your beautiful lake....Buffalo doesn't need to be the pig....

Best

Steve

PS---New York...if not your end of the state, had their revenge at Superbowl.

Now, if only it could do this: http://www.diegorosales.com/projects/vf_02.htm

Why do we have 4 bridges competing for flow/tolls when all 4 should be a system designed to work together?

All truck traffic should be through Lewiston except trucks originating south of Niagara Falls. Trucks can get to buffalo/401/403 as easily by taking the 190 along the river instead of the QEW. A dedicated bridge/processing etc could be built for long haul commercial traffic. The peace bridge could handle any overflow/backups through rerouting by posting on highway message boards.

If Buffalo is to get stuck with an expanded Plaza it better have an ivy covered castle wall around it and the best bridge our money can by to look at.

This is crazy! We can't build a signature bridge because birds my not fly high enough to get over it? Seriously?

Animals adapt. The birds will find their way.

This Peace Bridge issue just continues to be one pathetic joke.

Steve. The only thing about your comment that pisses me off is that you are a Pats fan. Sorry for the lack of fire but we do all agree that Buffalo is the proverbial pig always looking for her lipstick.

No slaps intended....well...maybe...a few.....OK...lighting a firecracker and tossing it into the stands....trying to provoke you all into maybe getting off yer duffs...Everytime I read something 'bout Buffalo, its bad...Cowboy up!...One thing that drives me bonkers is the passive nature of yer city...Isn't there any anger out there?....

If yer going to lay down like defeated dogs...I'll admister a kick...don't want to...But really Buffalo, get up!

I'm sorry, but wouldn't the birds see and go around? They could go through the middle section or around, right? Are we actually stopping something big for BIRDS?

man i had no idea the original plan was 567 feet tall! That is taller then anything in buffalo, that is such a hardcore design. I could see how that would effect birds. Though some one please tell me they care enough about the city to see how major this project would have been. Can't we have some kind of big brother program for the birds, get that lady from home alone to feed them?

Its the LAX Theme Building, completed 1961. In triplicate.

http://cwis.usc.edu/dept/LAS/history/historylab/LAPUHK/Text/Concepts/Icons/Icons_LAX.htm

I was flipping through Newsweek and saw an interesting ad for Allianz, an insurance agency of sorts. Check out this bridge in Seoul, South Korea: http://www.allianz.com/en/allianz_group/press_center/news_dossiers/risk_management/news12.html

Scroll down for the picture.

You folks realize that this new bridge (three arch bridge) will cost MORE to build and MORE to maintain than the cable-stayed bridge , correct?

It's all about the money.

The Public Bridge Authority had no intention of listening to the public.

See ya in court PBA.

great. decision made. birds happy. now build the dern tern-safe thing!

now, at least migrating birds will make it far enough south to get minced by the windmills... (j/k that's mostly a myth)

if the deflection netting would not work (bright yellow and gymnastic grade). they should create a multi use bridge terminal and send the spca cats out on the wires to warn off any bird of their danger.

it reminds me of the logo for "Sample". the thick posture takes some getting use to. I could see a bridge like this being successful for out inner harbor project, the lack of translucency seems to create a greater intrusion. I give it aa real late hand in grade of b to b-

chris69: speak for yourself and only yourself. why don't you focus on Shared Border Management and the rest of us will focus on the bridge. deal?

well the bridge is the bridge the plaza is the plaza.. I say build the bridge and lets think creatively about the plaza.. Can anyone say double decker plaza... ;) It is already on a bluff just burrow down =p

Also this is a fine design maybe not as tall or pointy as the other but there isn't any great about it besides it trying to be great. It looks like the bridge in boston and multiple other cities already. This design is no reason to halt construction.. Although a fast charrette with the final constrictions could result is some fun and new ideas. Given the budget, peir location, height and say go.. offer the winner the prize. Assuming you don't change certain aspects then you shouldn't have to re-do an environmental review.

they should convince the local colleges to build the bridge. It would save us all a whole heck of a lot of money.

Buffalo, we're cocksure and it shows