I'm all for a ring road, but I do not think I could support this. The project is too much money for an unproven dream of airport industrial lands. I think a few land developers are in the final stages of their big sale and the tax payer is being asked to make a commitment long term for the future that I don't think is the best long term solution. Industrial lands should be part of a real dangerous goods ring road even if it costs $500 million.

Using the dangerous goods route argument to support this proposal is disingenuous IMO because this does nothing to address the choke points of Peden Hill or 1st Avenue-Central ect routes. This is in no way part of a present dangerous goods route, nor will it make sense as part of a long term one that properly avoids urban areas, because it does not have the end points that fit the location for a long term ring road that fits the role of a dangerous goods route. One glance at a map should make that clear.

What a waste... if we were building a dangerous goods route we wouldn't be rebuilding the Nechako bridge in its present location... but rather, we would be connecting infrastructure to the pulp mill side at the confluence and up through that way to Northwood, Salmon Valley ect.

Like this project, the current Nechako bridge is another completely unnecessary investment and debt for the city... when it should have been a 100% investment paid for by the federal and provincial governments as a a proper and planned dangersous goods ring road as part of the Canadian and British Columbian highway systems paid for with our surplus federal and provincial tax dollars....

Instead our city planners make this huge infrastructure investments with not our current city tax dollars, but rather our future city property tax dollars... and the end product is a mix match of one off (road to nowhere) projects that can not reasonably serve as a dangerous goods route... are based on sketchy land development ideas... make a certainty that more industry increases its hold on our river front blocking potential land development for urban growth in our most prized strategic natural assets along the river... and in the end projects that only add more intersections and congestion to a city that already has more stop lights than any other city in Canada on its highway system. Pure lunacy I think and then we are supposed to pay the debt to make it all happen.

You are not going to get funding for just a "road". There has to be a reason or a financial return or an increase in the city tax base to finance a "road".

The pipe dream of a ring road where truckers can put the rig in overdrive, turn up the A/C and cruise around the outskirts of the city with a load of chicken manure are unreasonable. The Boundary Road does provide a bypass to the downtown, so D/G is a valid use for one of the many reasons for this road.

Dangerous Goods routes is a bit of a idiot thing anyway that everyone has bought into rather than look at the comparative hazards. Deliveries to your local gas station and the backhoe digging in the neighbours lawn are still legal, and more hazardous. Trucking is another step higher on the risk list, but only because the trucks are just so gosh-darn "big" and scary.

Dangerous Goods routes will soon be irrelavant as there will be less trucking in the future as oil prices continues to climb and truck operators go the way of the tall sailing ships of the past.

I've had my Class One licence since 1978 and no accidents yet. My D/G and MSDS "education" in 1985. So many licences and authorities, no wonder there is no paper money in our wallets anymore, no room!

How come the City's consultant on this large project is the same consultant that works for the landowners in the area.

How do we know the interests of the City are being served?

Yama, your a doll! I have to say you said it all and I will agree with you on this issue.

Cheers

Yaman don't you think $48 million is a lot of money for a short cut from the Old Cariboo for industrial traffic avoiding downtown? You must be benefiting from this project if thats the strength of your argument?

A ring road I think is not entirely so that you can save fuel in overdrive not stopping at the 26 stop lights through the city of PG and thus making transportation much more efficient. Rather the idea of a ring road is to use the new infrastructure to direct where future industrial growth will be taking place... so as to have a proper separation of industry and urban planning... so that we don't have to argue about those things when we have opportunities to create jobs, and so that when we create those jobs we can also have a world class place to live that is not under the shadow of polluting smoke stacks of industry. New jobs in PG will be mostly resource based for the near long term IMO and we need access to the appropriate industrial lands.

Looking at it through a pin hole one doesn't always get the bigger picture IMO.

These piece meal road to no where projects at the city tax payer expense rather then senior levels of government in no way provide for a separation of industry from urban and in fact serve to further integrate the two in a perpetual common space. That IMO will cause decades of future problems and stagnant growth as a result. Thats my argument.

I agree with you Eagleone.
We have to separate industry from urban dwellers and guarantee safety of residents from hazardous goods travelling through neighbourhoods.
1st Avenue, Carney Street,Fifth Avenue and the By-Pass are disasters waiting to happen. Residential property ownes in the adjoining neighbourhoods have had their home investments decline and have been subjected to noise and pollution.

If we want to attract people to Prince George as a "great place to live", we need to begin by respecting the residents that are already here. Nechako Subdivion is the first planned CM&HC subdivision in Prince George and it has been severely impacted through decisions made by past City Council's and the present one.

Get industry away from the Nechako River and get hazardous goods and truck routes out of the heart of the City and then boast that Prince George is a "great place to live". Give a guarantee that all residential areas will be respected and protected and then start promoting the City

Past behaviour predicts future behaviour and past behaviour has been to disregard and disrespect established neighbourhoods in the area adjoining the Nechako River in the bowl.

Ring road, hazardous goods. Give me a break. Look at Kelowna. It is almost twice the size of PG. They built a brand new bridge across the lake and where does it feed the traffic too but right through the haert if the commercial section.

But we here in PG have to think big and try to make people believe that its the best place in the world to live. Hum bug. Most of the hazardous goods come in by rail and we have tanker trucks going through the cammmercial section and dumpingm their gasoline , How much more hazardous cane it get.

Forty eight million for six km of high way is absolutly rediculous. It is a complete waste of our tax dollars and it dosent matter if its provincial, federal or municipal money its all our money.

Cheers

Bridge I disagree with the highway too. It doesn't solve our hazardous goods problem. Prince George is not, at present, a great place to live. Too much pollution and not enough respect for taxpayers in the bowl.

People have to have a look at what the government(s) have been spending money on in the past. Like the new jail for $60 million and the new courthouse for $35 million. The new ladies jail is going to rack up another $22 million plus the usual cost over-runs.

When you look at all these government projects I believe the better bang for the buck is the Boundary Road project. I would have to agree that I would benifit personally from a Boundary Road over any of these other government projects. The twining of the Simon Fraser bridge and moving the weight scales is one that I believe will benifit me personally as well.

Roads always attract investors. Name one that hasn't.

The "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska????? (Sarah Palin).

Oh, then how about the Siberia Transnational if you have to be silly. Heehee!

Yama, I think its good you've come clean about your conflict of interest. It gives your argument more credibility as a stakeholder, rather than as a spook.

You might be able to make the easy argument that the Boundary Road is a better investment than other government waste, but I can not see how you can make the argument that the city should be paying for this (the city had no part in funding the projects you compare against), as well I think the planning is feeble based on an unproven dream. A dream that I see nothing concrete to back up other than San Fransico developer type promises that we seen last election about townhouses downtown.

This $50 million infrastructure development effectively kills a PG ring road for a least a decade... and as a result banks all of PG's future on the airport container business, rather than a future of new forestry based industry. It is a trade off, because no new forestry plant will be approved in the PG bowl for air consideration reasons, and thus only through industrial land development will PG be able to attract the investment in our forest industry (we like to fool ourselves otherwise until its too late every time)... and new industrial land development goes hand-in-hand with access to the serviced industrial lands. Logic would say to build it right the first time to attain synergies and a win win for both potential economies rather than a one or the other limit to choice because of the costs involved.

If we bank all our future economic growth potential to airport container traffic (as this project will do), then I sure hope the hype around the CN container facility isn't the business model they are building from....

The area they plan to build on is so hugely expensive because they couldn't have picked a more ravine infested parcel of land in all of PG with huge 500 foot deep ravines of unstable ground affected by Tabor mountain spring run off. Its one of the best places to 4x4 in all of PG because of the mud. The city is buying the equivalent of a swamp with potential slide problems far worse then even the University Way has and as a result the starting price is $50 million... and it will only go up in price from there.

A planned ring road could go through far better terrain and thus get 6-times as many kilometers for the dollar and open up far more diverse future economic potential.

Narrow interest are controlling this agenda IMO.

Right again Eagleone!