What Is The Most Important Project For Central BC
Monday, December 19, 2011 @ 3:45 AM
While the City of Prince George looks to the future, the most major project that we require in this region slowly slips under the radar.
If there is a more important need for the two thirds of the province that lies north of Cache Creek in BC I would like to hear it.
Former Premier Bill Bennett took the opportunity before leaving office to ensure that a connector was built that tied into the Coquihalla highway thus ensuring that a first class highway existed between the lower mainland and the area he called home.
The effect of that highway has been a rapid growth of the region, due in many respects to the fact that the lower mainland suddenly was more than four hours closer by road.
Some five years ago, then Premier Gordon Campbell, recognized that if the bread basket of the province was to grow and flourish it also would need a first class highway from the US border to Prince George as a starter and he initiated a plan to have the road completed within 10 years.
Rarely do you hear about that most important connection with the result that Alberta has been quietly picking off the traffic heading into the north of the province, and the lower mainland looks at the Central Interior as being just too far away from the main stream. That has hurt the growth of the entire region.
There is no valid reason why a connector from Cache Creek to the Coquihalla highway has not been built. That one move would save countless hours for travellers from the lower mainland travelling into the interior and north.
A divided highway stretching from Cache Creek to Prince George and eventually into the Peace, would see the rubber tire traffic from the southern States and Canada using this stretch as opposed to diverting to the divided highways that exist in Alberta.
If we fail to act on what has been called the Cariboo Connector and there is every indication that it has fallen off the radar, we will continue to lag behind in the development of the north and central part of BC at the expense of not only Alberta but also the Okanagan.
This issue and this issue alone should be front and center in this province long before we invest money in projects such as a Wood Innovation Center, which fail to recognize the real issues facing this region.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s’ opinion.
Comments
http://www.patbellmla.bc.ca/EN/693/24849?PHPSESSID..
That is what was announced in 2005.
Some of the specific sections identified have not yet been completed. The include:
* four laning Williams Lake to 150 Mile House.
* Four-laning Cache Creek to Hwy 99 junction, north of Cache Creek.
I do not recall any completion time announcement. I do recall the comments about 50, 100 year project.
Again, we have a situation of non-disclosure of government plans that have clear objectives, are followed through in an objective, measurable fashion, and are broadcast in a timely fashion to the communities which are affected.
That goes for municipal, regional district, province, feds ……. they all can substantially improve their responsibilities to their electorate.
The province requires municiplities to have Official Community Plans which are to be updated in at least a 10 year cycle. Well, the province needs to do that as well!!!
To quote from the above linked site:
“Having a safe, efficient highway system is vital to all our lives and to
B.C.’s economy, and Highway 97 is the primary transportation link for
communities in the heart of the province,” said Campbell. “This is one more
component of the government’s plan to open up the Interior through strategic
investments in critical infrastructure.
Soaring economies in the oil and gas, forestry, mining and tourism
industries have increased the need for a four-lane highway through the heart
of the province via the Cariboo Connector, the 460-km portion of Highway 97
between Cache Creek and Prince George. The new highway will also increase
safety and decrease travelling times.
“The Cariboo Connector will open up the North the same way the Coquihalla
opened up the Interior,” said Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon. “This
new highway will provide northern communities with a first-class trade
corridor that will support increased commercial traffic due to our rapidly
expanding economy.”
Appear to have been hollow words.
I agree 100%. Our ability to service the Peace River region and the drawing of US tourists bound for Alaska are important considerations for the North.
Twinning from Kamloops to Prince George is at least a reasonable possibility however the Pine Pass is obviously a difficult area to build highway. While I agree that it is important I am not convinced that it is a reasonable cost.
BTW, travelled to Vancouver recently. One direction took the Fraser canyon, the other went via Kamloops.
Lots of trucking traffic both ways. Very little between Cache Creek and Kamloops. I think the end destinations are quite different between the two routes.
For those with google earth, zoom down to the highway say south of 100 mile house and one can count the number of trucks versus cars. Another indicator of a lot of truck traffic on 97. There is quite a bit less on the highway from Kamloops north to Alberta.
You hit that nail on the head Ben. When I read the title of this article, I was intrigued to see what you had written. I wouldn’t have guessed it would be the 4-laning project but you are so right about it.
Not only would it open up the region to development, it will save a lot of lives.
“due to our rapidly expanding economy”
The current financial crisis in Europe and the resulting malaise in the world economy may be why this project has dropped off the radar. (plus a 3 billion shortfall in the provincial coffers)
I think its mostly southern politicians that talk of the Cariboo Connector… it buys them street credibility the thinking goes.
Pat Bell once told me flat out he doesn’t support a four lane highway to the interior… said he spends more time behind traffic getting from Hope to Tawasen then he does from PG to Hope. I think if the local MLA ridicules the idea, then its a stretch to think the provincial government will give it much more thought than lip service.
Personally I think we need more passing lanes between PG and Vanderhoof more than anything as the busiest highway in the region. Maybe some new bypass routes as well… like for Quesnel, South of PG, and West of PG (Isle Pierre to Chief Lake). If we are to have a four lane highway I would like to see it go from Whistler to Williams Lake and on up to PG… Vancouver would only be 5-6 hours away if going that route.
I agree that transportation infrastructure is important but it isn’t everything.
At the core of what is beneficial to this province is government focussed on that rather than news flash announcements that actually do little for our benefit.
The oil sands for example are seen as a national asset rather than just a provincial pot of gold. Alberta does capture the lions share of benefits of that development whereas our oil and gas industry is nothing more than an economic cash cow for Alberta instead of BC.
Better roads would help but it takes a more deliberate strategy by government to bargain for and obtain BC benefits from this industry. Billions are spent on this development and yet BC only captures pennies from it.
The liberal economic development approach needs to move from being only concerned about the wellbeing of corporations and shifting it towards the best interests of this province and its communities.
We come up short because of the projects, huge cost overruns and vote buying in la la land. I still think we should form our own province north of Cache Creek. Cache Creek not included as don’t want LA LA lands garbage.
What are the hurdles for forming our own province?
Campbell was a big promoter of the North and especially Prince George. When he shot himself in the (HST) foot his Cariboo Connector project took a stray bullet too!
For now it’s barely on life support!
A highway does not create commerce. To compare the Kelowna connector to the Cariboo is like comparing apples and oranges. The Kelowna connector has the lower mainland on one end and Kelowna on the other. To compare Kelowna with Prince George just dose not fit.
There is Cash Creek on one end and Prince George and the Peace River on the other. To spend a pile of tax dollars on the Cariboo Connector just does not make sense. To improve the route with more passing lainâs dose.
Building the connector would also reduce the economy for the smaller communities along the way as people would be less inclined to stop and brows. The Kelowna connector has one stop and thatâs Merit. Itâs the most boring drive in BC.
Cheers
“he spends more time behind traffic getting from Hope to Tawasen then he does from PG to Hope”
If there is any truth to that, he needs some lessons in driving freeways. First one? Don’t drive in rush hour on a road that is not designed to take rush hour traffic. They are 20 years behind the times with the building that is going on there.
And yes, I agree with R-02 that the road from Abbotsford into Vancouver takes priority over any 4 laning south of PG.
Build a bypass around Quesnel, Williams Lake and 100 mile house. It will benefit everyone, especially the locals. Quesnel is priority #1.
As far as the north goes. It does not belong to BC from a service point of view. Keep on servicing it from Alberta. That province services the Yukon and likely the NWT as well.
Oceans used to support/create commerce and still do.
So did and do rivers.
Then came roads …. the Romans excelled at that to open up territory.
The rail ….
Then air corridors …..
Each are based on desire lines and their nodes. Atlanta is a great example of a node that did not exist and was not going anywhere until delta created its hub there which is the world’s largest and also the busiest airport for passengers.
Chicago and Winnipeg grew as major railroad hubs.
PG is most certainly a hub. Problem is, it has nothing much to serve, so it is miniscule and will stay as such until it may have something substantial to service.
Until there is something that will take PG the next level up in incremental growth of population, there is no reason to service a miniscule hub.
It is like everything else, one event, such as building a road, will not do much. One has to have a multi-pronged approach to accomplishing the end goal.
BTW, what is that end goal? 150,000 population? 500,000? Sustainable population of up to 100,000 in the next 20 years with high quality of living?
For the latter, we do not need a 4 laned highway for 500 or so km linked to an existing 4 lane highway that takes us 70 or so km out of our way to a questionable destination.
Buld a 350 km 4 lane highway to the east and connect us with Edmonton instead … much cheaper, and less dangerous …
complete the Yellowhead north ….. ;-)
Oh, build the pipeline down the middle …. call it the Enbridge ….
“What are the hurdles for forming our own province?”
Talk to Quebec ….. get some advice …
Quebec wants to leave the country and keep the subsidies, not the same. How about when the NWT’s was split in two, that seemed to go relatively easy.
Ah yes….. in that case talk to the First Nations and get their advice….. :-)
I think the government of BC would have to be in favour before the Feds would even give it any serious consideration.
Be careful what you wish for. I think until we have some proven equity with oil and gas, a northern province would be controlled economically by the northeast.
“What are the hurdles for forming our own province?”
Where would this utopia get its revenues from?
I had a look at the 2013/2014 BC Budget and only about 8% of total government revenues actually come from natural resource royalties and revenues. Of that 8%, a good chunk would come from areas not included in the desired Northern Province area (i.e. mining sources in Southeast BC).
The remaining 92% of revenues come from sources such as taxation, MSP premiums, transfers from the feds, income from crown corps, etc. In short, 92% is pretty much linked directly to PEOPLE and the overwhelming majority of people do not live in the Northern Province catchment area.
That could create a bit of an issue, no? That’s not even considering the fact that this Northern Province would be almost completely reliant on industries with a history of boom and bust cycles. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. As an aside, I wonder how much it would cost to buy all of the existing Provincial infrastructure from the Province of BC when this new place forms?
We would be foolish to divide BC into two (or more) provinces.
Physically, BC stands alone amongst all the Canadian provinces in that it is potentially “self-sufficient”. Something many ‘countries’, even some well developed modern ones, are not.
We have within our current borders virtually all the resources necessary to give each and every British Columbian a far higher standard of living than the majority of us currently enjoy. What prevents that from happening? Nothing that’s going to be solved by reducing our overall capacity to do so, that’s for sure.
Quebec, in contrast, has some substantial resources, but is woefully lacking in a great many more. It would have to ‘sell low and buy high’ if it were independent and hoped to maintain the standard of living it now has.
Notice also that the most prominent separatists in ‘la belle Province’, those so anxious to turn their land into ‘la belle Nation’, have never once suggested that they have their own “Banque de Quebec” in place of the “Bank of Canada”.
The Cariboo Connector was a desperate ploy by Gordon Campbell in 2005 to get MLA’s elected in the Central Interior. It has been given little or no thought since then and its aim to move goods through the Interior and Peace to the Coast has been shelved as the government has found it easier to just 4 lane the road from Ft St John to Grande Prairie.
For the Liberals, its too much money to be spent for too little political gain. If it meant the difference between winning or losing the next election, it would be back on the radar, but until then, the only progress on the Connector will be the fancy signs at the edge of each town between PG and Cache Creek trumpeting the 4 laning
There is a connector it’s called Highway 24. Just turn left at Little Fort north of Kamloops on Highway 5. It’s a beautiful drive, very little traffic and mostly all new pavement.
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