Terry Fox Drive: Update!

Thank you to all in Winnipeg, and all other parts of Canada, for supporting the idea to name the Perimeter Highway after the late Winnipeg-born philanthropist Terry Fox.  In particular, I would like to thank the owners of local blogs "Anybody want a Peanut" and "West End Dumplings" for their recent blog entries, which encourage me to continue.

Since Friday, I have been subject to media requests from different sources, and to be quite honest, I may be way over my head.  I'm just a simple blue-collar worker, who does not want or need any type of publicity, and I certainly would never want to create the impression that I am making a name for myself, off of Terry Fox's memory.  

I have decided to contact the Terry Fox Foundation, and the Canadian Cancer Society, and ask for their blessing, in regards to this campaign.  I hope and pray they give me the go-ahead to take the campaign to the next level, and hand the petition to City Hall.  This has surpassed my wildest expectations, and I believe it shows that the majority of Winnipeggers would overwhelmingly favor renaming a road, school, community centre, or even a park after the late Terry Fox.

If anyone reading this would like to do more for the Terry Fox Foundation, please click on this link to volunteer, participate, or donate your time, effort, and/or money for a worthwhile cause.  You can also make a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society, by clicking this link.  Terry Fox ran the Marathon of Hope, because he truly believed "cancer can be beaten."  Let's help make Terry's dream a reality, and support his cause. 

Petition the City of Winnipeg change the name of the Perimeter Highway to Terry Fox Drive.

If you happen to think like I do, you may be tired of the City of Winnipeg naming highways and streets after people on City Council or other bureaucrats. Let's name a highway after a Winnipeg-born hero, and the recipient of the Order of Canada: Terry Fox.  Fox was born in Winnipeg, and spend a significant portion of his childhood in the city, before moving to British Columbia when he was 8 years old.

Despite suffering from Cancer, and having a leg amputated as a result of the disease, Terry Fox had a dream to raise money for cancer research, by running a marathon across Canada. Few people believe his run would ever get off the ground, but he managed to win over the hearts and imagination of many Canadians during the spring, and summer of 1980. 

Sadly, on September 1, 1980, Fox was forced to abandon his run, after learning the cancer had spread to the rest of his body.  He ran 5,373 kilometers, while literally dying, and gave his life to help others know that cancer could be beaten. After his death in 1981, the annual Terry Fox Run was first first held in Canada, and has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over $500 million has been raised in his name.

Please sign my petition  and help give Terry fox the recognition he deserves in his city of birth.  Let's rename the Perimeter Highway to Terry Fox Drive.  You can sign the petition by visiting this link:

Rename the Perimeter Highway to Terry Fox Drive

Anthony Henday Drive vs The Perimeter Highway

My job often takes me all over Central Alberta.  This week I have the pleasure of working near Fort Saskatchewan, a city approximately 20 minutes Northeast of Edmonton, with a large industrial base that many companies like Agrium, Dow Chemical, and Shell Canada have massive plants at.  Since I live in the southern part of the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area, I commute by driving along Edmonton's Ring Road, or what locals refer to as "The Anthony Henday."

The Alberta Government had set aside land to build a Ring Road encircling the city of Edmonton in the 1970's.  For years, only the Eastern section of the Ring Road that ran between Edmonton and the suburb of Sherwood Park was complete.  In the 1990's, the Western leg of the highway was completed.  However, not anticipating the oil boom of the last decade, the Western leg of the Ring Road was built mainly with at grade intersections, similar to Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway.

As the economy began to catch fire, and thousands of people all over Canada were settling in Edmonton, the need to complete the Anthony Henday became a priority with the Government.  In 2006, the Southwest leg of the route, from Whitemud Drive to the QE2 was competed.  A year later, the Southeast leg of the route was completed, linking the West and East sections of the highway.

At this point, the only portion of the road left to be completed was the area north of the Yellowhead Highway.  On November 1, 2011, the Northwest leg of the Anthony Henday Drive was opened to traffic.  You can now by-pass nearly all of Edmonton if you are commuting from the South.  The Ring Road is nearly 90% complete, and looks remarkably similar to old maps of the Perimeter highway of Winnipeg before 1996 when it had yet to encircle Transcona.

Which leads us to an examination of Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway.  The Perimeter was build roughly 50 years ago, as a highways that cars and trucks could travel on to by-pass the city as they traveled east to west  on the Trans Canada Highway. Unfortunately, the perimeter was not designed as a limited access highway, with nearly 70 points along the highway that are intersected with at-grade roads and rail crossings.  according to the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP), it would cost approximately $440 million to bring the Perimeter Highway up to freeway standards.

By far, the most interesting document in favor of turning the Perimeter Highway into a limited access highway can be found in this document I came across from the FCPP.  The report outlines the advantages of improving the points along the Perimeter to construct it into a modern day freeway.  The main advantages of turning the Perimeter into a limited access highway are as follows:

• freeways reduce air pollution due to the free flow of traffic, and the limited number of stops along the highway
• freeways reduce highway injuries and fatalities by 70%, according to the Infrastructure Council of Manitoba
• freeways prevent the most destructive accidents from occurring due to the design of most North American freeways
• freeways reduce the commuting time of residents that rely on the highway, making it easier for resident to get from home to work, and vice-versa
• freeways reduce the stress and congestion on arterial roads that are not able to handle the amount of traffic of a modern day freeway
• freeways pay for themselves in the long run, in terms of reduced fatalities, congestion, injuries, commuting time, and the alleviation of stress on roads and highways that parallel the route of the freeway

Just imagine if the city could go back in time, and shelf the ill-fated White Elephant Museum Canadian Museum for Human Rights, in favor of much needed infrastructure projects, such as making our Perimeter highway a fully functional limited access highway.

Rail crossing on the Perimeter Highway

Fatal crash (Waverley and Perimeter interchange 2011)

Prototypical "Diamond' interchange

"Cloverleaf" interchange