5.4 Property Constraints

Prior to improvement, most of the original Broadway Drain was located on lands owned by the City of Windsor. The exception was the westerly 190m of the drain, which was located within a 30.5m-wide corridor owned by Transport Canada. During the design development process, Transport Canada presented a layout constraint that required any channel improvements to remain entirely on lands either governed by the Bridge To Strengthen Trade Act or under the City of Windsor’s jurisdiction

We determined early on that the establishment of a standard open-channel design along the new Broadway Drain would inevitably encroach into the abutting lands to the immediate south, owned by the Windsor Port Authority (hereafter WPA). Such an encroachment would have significantly complicated and lengthened the approval process for the drainage improvements. Therefore, an alternative channel section had to be developed for an approximately 89-metre long reach of the new Broadway Drain.

5.5 Habitat Enhancements

Planning studies completed during the EA for DRIC committed Transport Canada to implementing significant measures aimed at enhancing fish habitat and other wildlife habitat as part of the bridge site development. Opportunities for implementing habitat enhancements as part of the Broadway Drain improvements were therefore identified as a priority, and incorporated into the final design.

In addition to incorporating habitat enhancements, measures were taken to ensure that the improvements did not improve the drainage of south abutting properties, which would have adversely impacted existing wetland habitat environments.

6.0 Findings and Recommendations

6.1 Pre-Improvement Conditions & Proposed Drainage Strategy

Prior to construction of the subject drainage improvements, the Broadway Drain existed as an open roadside ditch, extending along the south side of Broadway Avenue from the west limit of the ETR right-of-way (approximately) westerly as far as Sandwich Street. The drain then continued northwesterly, and then again westerly through the above-mentioned Transport Canada corridor to its outlet at the Detroit River (see Drawing No. 1).

During many of our site attendances, a small barrier beach feature was observed across the outlet of the Broadway Drain, which isolated the base flow of the drain from the Detroit River. On less frequent occasions (immediately after rainfall events, in particular), we found the drain to be free-flowing and connected to the river, and therefore accessible to fish. We assessed the pre-improved condition of the drain to be inadequate in terms of both depth and cross-section to provide acceptable outlet and flow capacity to service the proposed GHIB bridge plaza and PAR.