I was shocked to read in today’s Citizen that city staff have scheduled the airport parkway for twinning in the next few years. We must be quick, loud and clear in killing this idea before it again takes root.

City staff say we need extra capacity on the parkway, but their proposed expansion does not serve any high-capacity routes. A highway to nowhere makes no sense; this is clearly an attempt to move forward with the Bronson expressway. City employees have taken a piecemeal approach to this mega-project, getting small chunks built in the south to force the final move: expropriation to drive 6 lanes of traffic through the heart of a neighbourhood to the Queensway. With the widening of the Bronson canal bridge this summer, it is no surprise that city staff want to build the next piece of the puzzle.

As council has repeatedly said no to the Bronson expressway, why are city staff allowed to put their fingers in their ears and schedule the work anyway? Why are staff fixated on an idea that makes no planning sense and will destroy a neighbourhood? Why is council powerless to control these city employees? Residents should demand answers to these important questions.

We must organize to stop the twinning of the airport parkway — the next phase of Bronson expressway construction — right away. The alternative will be an expensive, distracting and divisive debate: an environmental assessment that rehashes all the same issues that have been explored time and again. In this time of financial uncertainty, we do not need an expensive white elephant that expands road capacity to an existing bottleneck. Make no mistake: a white elephant is what it will be. Downtown residents will not accept the Bronson expressway — now or ever.