Flags still not flying on the Burgoyne Bridge
You ask. We answer.
Q: What happened to the banners that are supposed to be on the posts on the Burgoyne Bridge in St. Catharines?
A: The banner project appears to have fallen off the radar for a time, but it’s gaining some attention again.
When the replacement of the Burgoyne Bridge over Twelve Mile Creek was completed in the summer of 2017 it included, among other new features, 12 flag posts to hold banners.
Niagara Region, which owns the St. Paul Street bridge, is currently in talks with the City of St. Catharines, which wants to be in charge of the banners.
Brian York, St. Catharines director of economic development and government relations, said the city is working with the Region on a banner policy that would delegate authority of the banners to the city.
York said it’s something the city has pursued with the St. Catharines Downtown Association to extend the gateway to the downtown and use the posts to promote events.
The policy being created would allow not-for-profit organizations to apply to fly banners on the bridge, and give the city the ability and authority to approve what goes up in terms of size and content.
Carolyn Ryall, director of transportation services for Niagara Region, said she and York are working on what the policy will look like for future requests that may come in.
She said the policy will be a collaborative one between the downtown association, the City of St. Catharines and Niagara Region — what banners will be allowed, how they will be installed, timing and other logistics. For instance, a lane will have to be closed to hang banners and they want to ensure that doesn’t happen during rush hours.
Ryall said they are nearly finished drafting the policy and will probably have it ready for the first quarter of the new year.
It couldn’t come soon enough for the St. Catharines Downtown Association’s executive director, Tisha Polocko. The association approached Niagara Region to see if it could use the posts three years ago.
Polocko said she’s asked about it numerous times since and hasn’t heard anything back.
St. Catharines resident Cecil
Hall approached the Region recently about flying banners to honour veterans on Burgoyne Bridge and seems to have kickstarted the process again. Those banners were eventually posted near St. Catharines city hall.
Q: In late 2017, the Region announced a stoplight would be installed at Townline Road and Stevensville Rd./ Sodom Rd. Here we are in 2019, no stoplight at a hightraffic location. What happened?
A: Netherby Road in Stevensville is the street that intersects with Stevensville/ Sodom Road and yes, there was supposed to be a traffic signal there.
Niagara Region says that’s still the plan.
Transportation services said the detailed design has been completed and the Region is targeting construction for early 2020.
Q: Is Pelham Road from Ninth Street to Fifth Street in St. Catharines ever going to be dug down, graded and paved? It is in absolutely terrible shape with potholes and uneven pavement every few feet.
A: Pelham Road is being redone in two sections.
The Region’s transportation services said the first project underway will see the road reconstructed from Effingham Street to Wessell Drive. That’s supposed to be completed by the end of 2020.
The second project will be from Wessell Drive to Eighth Avenue. That’s currently in the design phase and is scheduled to go to construction in 2021.
Q: What happened to the Ontario provincial plaque for the Mack Centre of Nursing Education at the old St. Catharines General Hospital site? Is it stored by the City of St. Catharines, is it at the new hospital on Fourth Avenue, or does the developer have it?
A: The large blue Ontario Heritage Trust plaque is at the St. Catharines Museum for safekeeping but it’s not part of the museum’s collection.
Adrian Petry, the museum’s visitors services coordinator, said the plaque is intended to go back on the site of the former Mack nursing school on Queenston Street or near it once the area has been redeveloped. The Mack school adjoined the St. Catharines General Hospital, which is currently under demolition. More than 1,850 nurses graduated from the school over its 100-year history.
The school was founded by Dr. Theophilus Mack in 1874 as the St. Catharines Training School and Nurses’ Home and was the first of its kind in Canada. Later named the Mack Centre of Nursing Education, it became part of Niagara College in 1973 when nursing became part of the college system.
The college eventually closed the school in the 1990s to absorb government funding cuts and citing competition with 25 other nursing schools in the province
The Ontario plaque was unveiled in November 1974, marking the school’s 100th anniversary.
Petry said once the plaque is reinstalled, it will not only mark the location of the familiar hospital building but also the original Victorian-era building that stood there before.
The “new” hospital on Fourth Avenue, which opened in March 2013 replacing the old General, is home to other Mack memorabilia.
The Mack school of nursing display is located on the second floor of the hospital near the auditorium in the café area.
Send your queries to Karena Walter by email at karena.walter@niagaradailies.com; by Twitter @karena_standard or through Facebook at www.facebook.com/ karenawalter