The railroad span location north of the Peace Bridge won 316 votes, more support than six alternatives recommended by consultants for the Peace Bridge Authority's bi-
national review of what to build across the Niagara River between Buffalo and Fort Erie, Ontario.

Another of the consultants' recommendations - moving the U.S. plaza north of its current site and building a new bridge at the current Peace Bridge location - was the top choice with 347 votes.

Those who participated in the workshop were given the opportunity to vote for five of 30 alternatives they preferred to be retained for more study during the next phase of the environmental review.

Grand Island residents packed the crowd.

Fifty-three percent of the 722 participants were from Grand Island - and it appears their opposition to Grand Island corridor alternatives plus their support for West Side residents opposed to the existing Peace Bridge corridor played a big role in pushing the railroad bridge site to the No. 2 ranking.

"This was a significant organized mobilization in response to alternatives on or near Grand Island," said Vincent P. Lamb, manager for the binational review.

Only six participants lived in the ZIP code that includes the International Railroad Bridge corridor.

Just 29 people who voted live in Canada.

Lamb said he isn't bothered by the Grand Island residents' organized approach.

"That's part of the process," he said. "I think if there were more diversity, these results would have been different."

But the Grand Island turnout "shows how they feel about their community. That's good. That's what we want," Lamb said.

Officials announced results at the workshop but called the ranking tentative because more than 300 people who showed up for the session delayed casting their votes. The ranking is final now that all of the mail-in ballots have been counted.

"There's not much change from the tentative results and the final results," Lamb said.

The top three choices remained the same: the existing location with a new U.S. plaza to the north, the International Railroad location and the existing location with a new U.S. plaza to the east.

A second International Railroad location alternative, one that calls for a new car and truck bridge and four-way interchange with the Niagara Thruway, nudged ahead of expanding the U.S. plaza at the existing location in the final results.

Revisions were proposed to the International Railroad location alternative that garnered the most support. The U.S. plaza would be located in the rail corridor substantially north of the Scajaquada Expressway. And roadway connections would be made to the Youngmann Highway and avoid direct connection to the Niagara Thruway and the Scajaquada.

Consultants are now analyzing the alternative like they did all of the other ones previously, Lamb said.

"We're taking a hard look at what was suggested to see if it alters our thinking about the corridor," Lamb said.

Lamb has previously expressed strong concern about an International Railroad corridor location, in part because of the extra traffic that would rely on the Scajaquada.

A technical analysis report released by consultants in November said that increasing traffic on the Scajaquada is exactly what City Hall officials and local park advocates oppose. They want to downgrade the expressway to a lower-speed parkway.

The consultants' other concerns about the International Railroad corridor: higher costs in constructing connecting roads, new plazas and interchanges and the fact that the site may not be consistent with the regional transportation plans by other state and provincial transportation agencies. That could change, but so far, nobody has informed the bridge authority that other agencies would tailor their infrastructure improvements based on any such corridor, Lamb said.

Lamb said he anticipates giving a final draft of the study's scoping plan to the bridge authority, City Hall and the Town of Fort Erie next month and holding a fifth public workshop to get more input on that document.