Just When Was The Cameron St Bridge To Open

Friday, April 17, 2009 03:45 AM

Former Mayor Colin Kinsley told his audience on a number of occasions that he would walk across a new Cameron St Bridge before the end of 2008.

Was part of that pronouncement to do with his efforts to see Don Zurowski elected as Mayor? That would have made for a nice orderly transition of power to the man who had not run against him in the previous election in which Rogers had been defeated in large measure over his weak stand on the bridge.

Zurowski had paid his dues and Kinsley was prepared to reward him for his efforts.

Rogers was not on Council and a new bridge meant strong support for Zurowski by dredging up Roger's Achilles heel.

Now IDL, who are being accused of dragging their feet, have issued a statement saying that the city was informed in September of 2008 of a completion date of August 2009. That would push the bridge walk by Kinsley over the new Cameron St Bridge by 9 months and have little value for Zurowski.

Why the public wasn’t told that the bridge construction was delayed and it would not open until August of this year we leave up to your conjecture.

IDL is planning a project overview with the Mayor and the media in attendance later this month.

In the end the bridge didn’t become an election issue this time round and Zurowski lost handily in part because of his association with former Mayor Kinsley. Now we can expect to have a true airing of the sequence of events and when the bridge originally was intended to open will come out.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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Posted on Friday, April 17, 2009 03:45 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: Denaljo on April 17 2009 5:20 AM

Petty politics for a dirty little mill town.
Can we just fix the potholes please!

Posted by: metalman on April 17 2009 7:11 AM

I'll second the motion.
metalman.

Posted by: Moses on April 17 2009 7:33 AM

The real story isn't a political ome, it's an administrative one.

Find out how poorly the project has been managed by the development services and transportation departments.

Posted by: Palopu on April 17 2009 9:20 AM

Its both a political story and an administrative one.

This bridge was built for political reasons, and political reasons only.

When it is finished it will not handle anymore traffic than the old bridge did. However because of the cost, which will probably be in the area of $8 Million from the City and an additional $2Million more or less for the roundabout, which will come out of the road budget, you better get used to driving on potholes in the rest of the City.

When we finally get the new bridge 4 years will have passed since the old bridge was closed.

The obvious question is, how bad did we need a new bridge if we got by without one for four years????

Posted by: Moses on April 17 2009 9:59 AM

The roundabout cost is and always has been included in the $9 million +/- base tender price for the crossing. That $9 million number has grown significantly because of `over-runs` the City hasn`t discussed publicly

The additional $2 million is for other, completely unrelated works at the north end that also haven`t been discussed publicly.

Posted by: NMG on April 17 2009 10:10 AM

"The obvious question is, how bad did we need a new bridge if we got by without one for four years"

Indeed. One of the best ways to tell if you really need something is to go without it for a while. Personally, I haven't been terribly impacted by the lack of the Cameron Street Bridge at all. Is it convenient? Sure. It is required? Not that I can tell.

Posted by: jonnypg on April 17 2009 10:15 AM

I live on the Hart NMG,I know it will be good for me!

Posted by: metalman on April 17 2009 12:37 PM

Palopu, NMG, have you forgotten about the impact of all the increased traffic at 5th & the bypass, and on 5th from the bypass to Carney, Carney to 1st avenue? I get the point, we all survived without a bridge at the old crossing, but without it, there was/is quite a strain on those roads, and I do recall reading a lot of complaints about that on this very forum. Think of it this way, regardless of the final cost, traffic around PG will move a lot more smoothly with the new bridge, especially since there won't be a stop light at each end of the bridge anymore.
metalman.

Posted by: NMG on April 17 2009 2:54 PM

Honestly metalman, I personally didn't really notice it because I don't travel in that area of town on a regular basis. I don't doubt what you say as I heard similar feedback from people I work with who live on the Hart. I'm just commenting on how it (or the lack of it) impacted me.

Posted by: opine on April 17 2009 3:47 PM

...not withstanding all the rhetoric about the bridge...

...could it be that Zurowski didn't make the grade because enough of didn't care for his holier than thou pompous nature!

Posted by: RUEZ on April 17 2009 5:45 PM

These potholes aren't filling themselves.