Jeff Gordon pushing forward on Canada track

Canadian Motorsports park in Fort Erie

Representatives from Jeff Gordon say they remain committed towards the development of the $400 million Canadian Motor Speedway in Fort Erie. Pending approvals from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Province of Ontario, officials expect to file this spring for the necessary permits to resume construction for the massive track complex along Bowen Road and just off of the Queen Elizabeth Way. The track, whose centerpiece is a Gordon-designed signature speedway, could see its first race take place by 2017.

"Jeff has very precise and intimate ideas on how he wants the CMS oval designed and built," said John Bickford Sr., Jeff Gordon Inc. vice president and general manager. Bickford is Gordon's stepfather. Billed as a motorsport innovation park, Canadian Motor Speedway will have a 3/4 mile banked oval track and a 2-mile graded road course. The grandstand will hold 60,000 race fans plus an enclosed club seat section for another 5,000 fans and 40 luxury suites. Buffalo Business First

For the $400-million Canadian Motor Speedway to keep moving forward changes need to be made at QEW-Bowen Rd. interchange. "That overpass at Bowen Rd., does need to be upgraded," said CMS spokesman Erik Tomas. "But because it's going to be the main access and egress point to the speedway development, meetings are being conducted with the Ministry of Transportation to determine what has to go there, and whether that will be a two or four-lane design." Tomas said the track has spent a large sum of money on traffic studies, and even though there will be about 60,000 people in the stands initially for auto-racing events, it might not be necessarily to have an expensive four-lane interchange. The track might be able to do it with two lanes. Niagara Falls Review