A waste of money.

An investment in modern light industrial park growth close to higway and air transportation networks.

The modern version of the BCR Industrial site of the next 50 years.

Boundary road isn’t. The truck traffic down Johnson road and the old Caribou highway will be virtually none.

“The total budget for the project is $28 million dollars which includes $7.5 million dollars from the Federal Government, and $7.5 million from the Province of B.C. The City of Prince George contributed $6.5 million and the remaining $6.5 million has come from a private developer.”

Looks like taxpayers are absorbing the majority of the cost for this business development. If it was such a good can’t-miss idea, you would figure that private money would be flooding into this.

I don’t see how this could be seen as a waste of money. Just having heavy truck traffic reduced or removed from the Old Cariboo highway and through the school zone out there is likely worth it right there…

Give me an example of a project where private money floods in without government first coming in or joining at the time of the original development.

For each one of those I can list 10… even 100 where private money was not first.

Let us start off with settling the west. FREE LAND ……. and free protection from the NWMP …… or the US Cavalry ;-)

Wanna try Tumbler Ridge?

How about Kitimat aluminum plant? …… sold off public water rights …..

Transportation has typically been a public investment in the last century.

That is how private money and private business works, hands out for taxpayer money.

I have a question – just where does taxpayer money come from? It seems to me, ultimately it all comes from business activity. I mean, if we shut down all primary industry, where would taxpayer money come from? From teacher’s salaries, except where would the money for those salaries come from? Government worker’s salaries – same issue.

I’m all for making sure we don’t let business steal our resources, but unless we’re willing to switch to communism and nationalize everything and have government not only own the resources, but own the extraction, manufacture, and export process as well, there is no such thing as taxpayer money, unless there is primary industry, so the sooner we quite demonizing it, in my opinion, the better.

Ok Lets do some serious thinking here.

1. Traffic from Highway 16 East destined to Vancouver (very little) will continue to use the Old Cariboo Highway to 97 South. It would make no sense to use the Boundry Road Cut off.

2. Traffic from Highway 16 East destined to 97 North (John Hart Highway) and the City Centre,1st Avenue, and the Pulp Mills, would continue to use 1st Ave., and some would continue to use Victoria St. to Highway 16 West.

3. Traffic from Highway 16 West and from 97 North would continue to go the way it moves at present. Ie; 97 North to 97 South. 16 East to 97 South, or 16 East to either Victoria ST., and then 1st Ave. and 16 East, or perhaps 16 East to 97 South, to Boundry Road to 16 East.

Seems to me that at this point in time there is very littl traffic for the Boundry Road cut off. In fact I would suggest it is a bloody waste of money.

If the intent is to eventually hook up Boundry Road to cross the Fraser River and connect with 16 West somewhere West of the Baldy Hughes turn off then that would make a little bit of sense, however that would probably not happen for another 15/20 years, if ever.

In my opinion I beleive that Boundry Road
was built to service a light industrial area, and will attract already established business from downtown, thus leaving us with a bunch of empty space in the greater Prince George area. In addition I suspect we will see a big motel, hotel, complex, and an up to date truck stop, that will service traffic in and out from all highways. At present all we have is the Husky Station on 97 South which is less than adequate.

There will not be any new business from the Airport if the last 6 years are any indication.

So in essence we the taxpayers through the Federal, Provincial, and Municipal Governments have just spent $28 Million to make a perfect location for a light industrial park, and truck stop, with no gaurantee’s what so ever that there will be an overall benefit to taxpayers.

The owners of this Industrial Park will enjoy paved roads, lights, water, sewer, and sidewalks, in the middle of nowhere, and long term taxpayers in Prince George will continue to get the shaft.,

Sooooooo. Whats new?????

“if we shut down all primary industry, where would taxpayer money come from”

Same place as taxes in most of the rich countries in the world, from the hard labour or smart labour of people who manufacture products from the resources they extract (extraction of resources is primary industry) and from the people who create the products and market them and ship them to market, and finance the operations and keep the people who work healthy and educate the people so that they know how to work smart … etc. etc. The system is integrated just as a functioning society is integrated …. Remove one or more key components, and the deck of cards comes down.

Most of the countries who have the secondary and tertiary industries figured out will import most, if not all, the extracted feedstock for their secondary industries. It is the people who are the real resource. Smart people, industrious people, people with a survival instinct and people who want to get more for less.

You see, that is the part of the reality of a viable economic operation that people in the extractive primary industries and regions where such industries still dominate do not understand. Their labour has been considerably replaced by machinery and improved process design as well as people educated to use their ingenuity rather than their muscles.

Without that value being available and ready to add, all the coal and iron ore and molybdenum in the world is going to mean squat.

The big problem is this project is paid for by the home owners of PG who simply can’t afford that kind of expenditure when our roads are falling apart and we have a massive infrastructure deficit in the rest of the city.

This should have been a federal funded road as part of highway 16. The city could have given up Victoria street and assumed those responsibilities. The Boundary connector should have been part of a wider infrastructure upgrade to our highway system including a Peden Hill bi-pass and a Salmon Valley connector. It should have been funded by the provincial and federal governments who collect that vast proportion of industrial taxes in the region and who have responsibility for provincial and inter-provincial infrastructure. Instead the home owners of PG are tasked with bailing out the federal government for their lack of investment in our economy.

Christy Clark has $650 million to pay for upgrades to the federal highway #1 to the Alberta Border, another federal responsibility, but no money to twin PG to Vanderhoof (the busiest two lane highway in BC, also a federal responsibility), or to make PG highways safe in the city with a true boundary road (provincial and federal).

PG still has the most stop lights and steepest highway grades of any through highway of any city in Canada.

And we wonder why the city of PG is teetering on bankruptcy….

Palopu

In reply to your point #1. If boundary road is considered the dangerous goods route will at least some of the traffic not then be required to take boundary and not be allowed on OC highway?

I am asking genuinely as I do not know the rules of the dangerous goods route. I do, however, have children going to Pineview elementary school and I live just off of Sintich road and I do have to say that I hope it cuts down on at least some of the traffic. Since the construction south of Sintich on highway 97 began, our road has been extremely heavy with traffic both passenger cars and heavy trucks who bypass the construction by taking OC hwy from the old art knapps, turning left on to Cummings and then down Sintich back to hwy 97 (or vice versa). Most of this traffic travels at a speed well over the posted speed limit and big trucks feel the need to use their jake when approaching the Sintich to Ellis sharp turn. This same traffic routinely feels it is exempt from having to stop for school bus lights and multiple times per week my children’s bus is passed while stopped with sign out and red lights flashing. Thankfully we have no children who cross Sintich at our stop.

If boundary road reduces heavy truck and passenget traffic by even 50% I would be very happy. The way it is right now Sintich Rd is very dangerous. Do walk and to drive.