Transportation Plan Near Roll Out
Prince George, B.C. – The ten year transportation plan “BC On the Move” will be rolled out over the next couple of months, 
Stone says the input from British Columbians has been overwhelming “We received over 12 thousand submissions from British Columbians covering all facets of transportation.”
Stone says the plan is being “fine tuned over the next coming weeks and we will be rolling out this new ten year plan BC On The Move over the next couple of months.”
Stone says the conversations with British Columbians showed there is strong support for the Province to continue investment in the major highways “We’ve done a pretty good job we think of investing in our highways over the past decade” says Stone, ” We’ve invested , for example on highway 97 between Cache Creek and Prince George, we’ve invested almost $420 million dollars in four laning projects.” The next project for that highway will be going to tender in the next month and will see improvements to highway 97 at Stone Creek.
He says while there is still a great deal of work to be done on northern highways “The improvements are noticeable. When you drive from Prince Rupert to Prince George, the number of passing lanes and improvements we have made there is noticeable.”
Stone says British Columbians have also called for more attention to secondary highways and sideroads.
Stone hasn’t provided any specific details, but indicates there will be some investments made in airports,. “The Terrace airport, with the volumes that airport is now handling and the volumes that are projected, that airport needs to be expanded. The Dease Lake airstrip, it’s now getting to a point where it’s questionable on some days if it is safe to land a medi-vac flight which is so critically needed in that part of our province. so that is probably a very worthy project to look forward to investing .”
Comments
The improvements to the highways in all directions is quite noticeable.
What I would like to see fixed next is the old blue bridge at Salmon Valley. That thing looks like it`s going to fall down. Some of the steel beams are so rusted and rotten and hasn`t seen paint in at least 20 years. Not to mention the fact that it is dangerous as hell when two trucks meet there.
No kidding tractor.
That Salmon Valley bridge is a disaster waiting to happen.
Yeah your right tractor. That bridge is very old, narrow and hasn’t seen paint in a long time.
I agree with Tractor.
But would also add the Parsnip River bridge.
Just before the Mackenzie Junction.
Salmon River and Parsnip River Bridge both need to be replaced if you really want to open access thru to the Peace. None of that arch bridge, which limits trucking loads. Keep them beam bridges, so everything above the deck is open.
The Parsnip River Bridge is much worse and is quite dangerous especially when meeting an over sized load going to the Peace. The approaches to this bridge are difficult and because of its length it is impossible to time your crossing so that nobody else is on the bridge. I cannot believe the speed limit is 100 km across that excuse for a bridge
Salmon Valley Bridge has been there for 60 years more or less. How many disasters have we had so far???
Having said that, I agree that it should be replaced, along with many others in North Central BC. We need significant upgrading to Highway 16 West.
Not sure what improvements are needed at Stone Creek.
My guess is that we in the North will not get a lot of work out of this 10 year plan. We will have to wait and see.
Since when has it become a Provincial Responsibility to do the improvements on Airports????
Negotiations with the Federal Government were completed and the Terrace-Kitimat airport transferred to the Terrace-Kitimat Airport Society on March 30, 1999.
The Terrace-Kitimat Airport Society is an independent, non-governmental not-for-profit corporation. As a not-for-profit corporation, the Airport Society has no shareholders and therefore no shareholder benefits: any profit is used to improve the airport.
Would be nice of Mr. Stone would be more specific in regards to the amount of money they will put into this Airport.
As far as the Salmon Valley Bridge, if they were to replace it I would think that it would be just a two lane bridge but be built in such a fashion that a second one could be built beside it at a later date. In 20 years from now definately 2 lanes won`t be enough. In the past 20 years I think the traffic has at least doubled with especially big trucks.
The way things are going these days the north has a lot going on. And yes the Parsnip Bridge should be included too.
Palopu: “Salmon Valley Bridge has been there for 60 years more or less. How many disasters have we had so far???”
There have been a few incidents on the bridge, due primarily to driver error and people drifting into the other lane. There was an incident just recently. That said, it is a narrow bridge and should be replaced.
Posted on Friday, January 23, 2015 @ 8:37 AM by Palopu
Since when has it become a Provincial Responsibility to do the improvements on Airports????
I agree with you 100%. Mr. stone is out in left field on the Terrace airport.
I am a career pilot and is what I do for my living. I do a lot of training at the Terrace airport. I am always amazed at how little traffic at that airport. The size of the terminal for that amount of traffic is adequate. We get nailed $30 to $85 dollars for landing fees every time we land. Nav Canada operates all airports and each City is responsible for upgrades.
I was puzzled at why the province thinks they are involved. Transport Canada is a federal entity,all on its own as well.
There was a geotechnical crew working at one end of the Salmon Valley bridge earlier this week, drilling through the pavement adjacent to the west approach.
Preliminary work for bridge improvements? We hope so.
By today’s standards that is a narrow bridge, plus there is a lot of heavy truck traffic on 97 North. Ditto for the Parsnip crossing.
metalman.
The “temporary” Baily bridge across the Willow River from 13 years back has still not been replaced and there is at least 1 logging truck every 20mins crossing it plus all the traffic from the eastline.
last I heard it was something like number 305 out of 500 in BC to be replaced. Should this “temp” bridge fail it would cut off about 300 residents. Even to make this story better I think there was insurance money collected back when the over height took the original older bridge out.
Nature will take of the Salmon Valley bridge soon enough. Take a look on Google earth and you will see that the river is trying to change its course (as they all do) and the new path wont quite line up with where the bridge is haha. It will be a nice bridge over the oxbow though ;-)
Palupo – I suspect the improvements at Stone Creek will have to do with the corner and the railway overpass. They have been clearing, logging, surveying and moving power lines there all summer, although I do not know what the exact plan is.
Westside road in cc’s riding is going to look great in a couple of years . Huge up grades there shortly after her seat was won , err , handed to her .
There is no doubt they should do something about the Willow River Bridge. Its kind of a laugh when you consider that we live in the 21st century in one of the richest Countries in the world and we are using baily bridges.
Things like old bridges, dangerous highways, etc, in North Central BC are indicators as to what the Government on the Island actually think about us.
I agree about the airport funding. I just don’t understand why the province is now funding federal expenditures. Is this more downloading by Harper so he can balance the federal budget before the election?
I agree on the two bridges up north being a top priority for this region. I would add to that a passing lane at the Salmon Forest Service Road heading south and a passing lane from Mud River East to the Blackwater in Beverly.
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