The city is currently negotiating with General Mills regarding this bridge. Uniland and Opus are requiring that the bridge be installed in order to start construction on the outer harbor project, along with the southtown connector. My understanding is that all sides are close to a deal. General Mills was threatening to close the plant if the bridge was installed, but I guess has calmed down since.

I couldn't agree more, but you'll get complaints from the sail boats that moor further up that canal. Maybe it doesn't have to be for cars. A creative swing bridge or something else that could be moved easily for the boats would be a great solution there.

"which bridge was it then?" The other MIchigan Ave bridge, over the Buffalo River, was "severely damaged by a drifting ship (the Tewksbury) caught in a torrent of water spawned by a sudden ice thaw on the Buffalo River in January of 1959. Nearby buildings including a ship chandlery and a grain elevator were also damaged during the mishap. "

I wonder what happend to the insurance monies the city received from the owners of the freighter that crashed into the bridge? That should have been utilized to reconstruct the bridge. I wonder who's pockets that eneded up in?

There also needs to be a bridge somewhere near the concrete lookout tower back to the mainland of Buffalo.

I believe, General Mills has contended that such a bridge would interfere with its plant.

Thank you for illustrating an obvious missing link to the outer harbor. This point has been brought up repeatedly at public meetings. Besides recreational access, it seems that there is a public safety responsibility for the City & NFTA to maintain access from downtown to the Coast Guard station and the the Port of Buffalo when the Skyway is closed by weather.

WNY Heritage Press says : "When the South Michigan Lift Bridge mechanism wore out, the city removed the bridge " . However, the OTHER Michigan bridge did get hit by a freighter in 1959 & was replaced in 1960.

'Cheerios' is correct about GM & the bridge, specifically that it would get in the way of unloading ships ... so they say...

Oh I hope the new bridges have as much character as the old one had.

Anyone know when we might get funding to start new bridge construction.

I don't understand how GM could be the ones that have the final say about if the bridge goes up or not. The city should just say, this is going in, and deal with it. It's not like it's going to create tons of traffic...if anything it will be a small inconvenience but the benefits would greatly outweigh the disadvantages.

Check out this website: http://www.skywayalternatives.com/diagram.php#diagram2

There are plants to bring back the Michigan Street Bridge and add a Main Street Bridge, Pearl Street Bridge and Erie Street Bridge. Of which the Pearl Street Bridge seems the most intrusive and unlikely but if 3 of the 4 bridges get built then General Mills wont have have as much traffic to worry about ... it will be distributed over the other bridges.

Though I dont know if this means that the skyway gets demolished or if the Main Street Lift Bridges replace the skyway.

In either case, Higgins has funded the study to replace the skyway and the bridges are in the transportation funding plan to be funded. So the question isnt why hasnt anyone thought of it...the question is when will it get funded.

Grateplan nailed MY immediate first thought! a) the freighter should have had insurance to cover the damage and b) hmmmmmmmOe wonder where THAT money went? If this city is going to have any chance of holding property owners to standards of upkeep (the post on the Freudenheim / Falcon bldg on Wadsworth, for example) then the city should not be able to "pocket the insurance check" and not fix the car o er, bridge. As for GM not liking the idea of the bridgeOe does this open the door for bridge "hit men"? As in, "gee that bridge sure screws up our unloadingOe maybe we should hire Rocko to pay it a visit" Gimme a break!

General Mills used to unload ships the old fashioned way and a bridge where it had been could have gotten in the way sometimes.

For the last several years GM has been using an automated system to suck grain from the freighters which stay well downriver from the bridge location.

Of course that may not stop GM from compaining if they want to be a typical corporate citizen rather than a good corporatie citizen.

Except that this wasn't the bridge that was hit! The damaged bridge WAS replaced, 46 years ago. So don't get too worked-up over missing insurance money.

Check out this link

http://www.christinespostcards.com/storefront/product_info.php?cPath=80&products_id=228

it's an old post card of our missing bridge.

which bridge was it then? And by the wayOe when's that piece of crap barge gonna be taken out of the river?

CK, thank you for giving us the most current update on the situation. What I'd like to know is how long has it been missing? How did it get to be missing? Was this another one of those deals where Mayor Tony responded to a veiled threat by saying, "Why Yes Buffalo Corporate Taxpayer and Employer, we'll get rid of the bridge as long as we can smell those Cherrios" or did Tony give it to Ray McGurn as a going away present?

I haven't lived in Buffalo long, so forgive the possible ignorance of this question:

If the skyway is taken down (which I hope it is), is this the bridge that would be used to connect the city with the area south of the city where the skyway now drops off traffic?

Just wondering if not replacing this bridge helps to make the skyway seem necessary as the "only" way to get across...

The proposed Outer Harbor Lift Bridge is not to be a rebuilt lower Michigan St. bridge, but a new bridge across the tip of Kelly Island jumping from the foot of Main St. to the island, and then over to the First Buffalo River Marina property near the Connecting Terminal Elevator. In response to the "automated system to suck grain from freighters" comment - Uh, that's a negative. The General Mills Frontier Elevator & the ADM Standard Elevators have shoreside hoppers to accept grain from self unloading lake ships. The boats have a 250 foot conveyor boom that discharges directly into the building via the new hoppers. The air line equipment seen on the dock is for dust abatement only. -Brian in Buffalo