Lost in all the devastation and confusion over the event’s last weekend was that someone’s father or grandfather who was killed in a traffic accident Friday afternoon in the city.
I’m not here to talk about the causes of that accident or any of the others that have happened or will happen on Whoop-Up Drive, but rather the debate that inevitably results from them: a third bridge.
The city currently has two plans for constructing a third river crossing.
The first is known as Chinook Trail and would connect Scenic Drive west of Tudor Estates on the Southside to University Drive between Sunridge and The Canyons on the Westside, eventually looping around the west end of the city, meeting up with Highway 3 out by the CPR overpass by Coalhurst.

The second option would see a river crossing constructed just north of the airport, linking up with the university around the same place as the already mentioned Chinook Trail.
In an opinion piece published in the Lethbridge Herald on July 17 of this year, Mayor Chris Spearman put the cost of constructing Chinook Trail at $150 to $200 million, requiring a 15 per cent increase in taxes for 15 years.
Another issue is that constructing Chinook Trial would delay other projects the city is interested in pursuing, such as a dedicated convention centre and a new fine arts building.
But what do the people of Lethbridge want? Surely there must be more than just an internet petition?
Luckily there is.
The Winter 2010 Lethbridge Public Opinion Study by the Citizens Society Research Lab at Lethbridge College surveyed Lethbridge residents as to whether they would prefer a third river crossing or a new performing arts centre.
Over 65 per cent of respondents wished to see a third river crossing while close to 31 per cent preferred the arts centre.
Broken down by area, over 75 per cent of respondents in the west and north of the city wanted a third crossing, while in the south only 52 per cent favored a third crossing.
With expansions planned at both the university and the college combined with the construction of the leisure centre and retail on the west side, as well and continued growth in residential development, the city may have to face this issue much sooner than they wish.
As for me, I’m on the team that this should’ve been built during the last Liberal Government.
In the meantime, I look forward to your tweets and emails.