The City of Windsor continues to move forward on a possible wildlife crossing linking Black Oak Heritage Park and Ojibway Park between Broadway Blvd. and Sprucewood Ave.
Phase 2 of the project calls for community input on the design for the crossing which carries a price tag of $1.5-million to be covered through the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority's Community Benefits Plan.
Project administrator Paul Mourad says an in-person information session isn't possible due to COVID-19, so a virtual room has been created.
"You can actually go in and walk around virtually and look at different poster boards and all that and there's comment sheets there," says Mourad. "So it's taken the place of a face-to-face public meeting."
He says an environmental assessment is already underway.
"We're doing that all online right now," he says. "So all the information regarding where we are in the study is posted right now. There's also a virtual room where you can actually go in and walk around virtually."
Mourad says environmentalists have been asking for a crossing like this for years.
"There's is definitely a lot more injury and mortality on this section of roadway and, of course, to provide that landscape connectivity between Black Oak and Ojibway Parkway was very important as well," says Mourad.
A report from the city states an estimated 20,000 vehicles travel along Ojibway Parkway and the E.C. Row Expressway each day resulting in an "unacceptably high amount of wildlife being injured or killed."
More information about the project and a link to provide input can be found on the city's website.
- with files from AM800's Gord Bacon