While the bureaucrats and politicians at Winnipeg City Hall may be “following the rules” in their plan to demolish the Arlington Bridge, former city councillor Terry Wachniak says multi-million dollar risks to taxpayers are being hidden from the public.
Part 1– Wachniak reviews his attempts to get key questions answered at two city committee meetings, including “what’s the emergency” and who is going to be left holding the bag if there’s a structural failure over the CPKCR rail yard.
None of the councillors on the Public Works committee were aware of a derailment damaging the bridge in 2018.
“I was the unique guy in the room that actually knew what the councillors should have known and what the administration was deliberately not telling them, because have I read the engineering report.”
Hear about the collision that put the Arlington Bridge out of plane and his concern about the corrective spring loaded tension failing with the south-side trestles now being removed.
Wachniak maintains the bridge is stable because there’s been no vibrations from vehicular traffic since its closure in 2023 – otherwise the rail yards beneath would not be operating. Instead, it’s the actions undertaken by the City that are creating potential risk.
16.50 Part 2- Wachniak shares more information in Episode 26 of the structural issues, including expansion joints that seized and rusted due to bad drainage, and were then damaged by the derailment, which was never reported to Council at any time.
19.00 Marty Gold beings to review a letter that Wachniak sent the railroad, and our guest jumps in with the scoop-
“What you don’t know Marty and I’m sure the city councilors don’t know either, is the railroad settled out of court with the City of Winnipeg.”
He described it as: “a cash settlement that eliminates them from being responsible for the damage done to the bridge by the railroad.”
Wachniak tells of speaking with a councillor on the Public Works committee – who was unaware of the derailment causing damage to city property or of the settlement – who guessed the deal was in the range of $20-25 million.
Listen for the actual figure- unreported to Council -that’s a fraction of that.
Wachniak goes on to question how the City will pay for the other 3 segments of the bridge removal when the entire budget of $17 million is being blown on the first- and easiest – phase, or how it will pay if the railyard is disrupted by the remaining bridge sections become unstable – as the charge for that runs into the millions.
He cites many pieces of information not given to Council at any point before awarding a $10 million consulting contract to demolish the bridge, with no liability on the contractor, and asserts taxpayers have been sucked into “outrageously, potentially financially crippling” liability if things go wrong with the project.
“Another $30-50 million won’t be enough,” he warns, “and it will come out of other city projects.”
Wachniak reveals that only one city councillor has bothered to engage him on the subject of the failure of the administration to properly advise councillors of the engineering and financial risks.
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