Cottonwood Island Park Repairs Nowhere in Site

Thursday, September 17, 2009 03:56 AM

Prince George, B.C.- Access to Cottonwood Island has been cut since the bridges had to be removed during the ice jam of the winter of ‘07/’08.

That means there have now been two full summers when parts of Cottonwood Island Park have been inaccessible.

The reason why the bridges have not been repaired lies with the flood mitigation plan.

The City has filed an application with the Province for $390 thousand dollars to deepen and widen the back channel which separates Cottonwood Island from the main part of the park. That plan also calls for the removal of a sand bar at the south end of the island. The province has not yet provided that funding, and there is no indication the dollars will be coming soon, or at all. “In terms of bridges, we can’t do that (replace the bridges) until we design the new back channel” says the City’s General Manager of Development and Operations, Bob Radloff. The overall repair work needed to be done includes, replacing the bridges, removing some debris and replacing the viewing platform, but all the repairs have to be compatible with the long range flood mitigation plan.

The ice jam caused about half a million dollars damage to the park, and while some trails have been upgraded, Bill Gall, the City’s Superintendent of Operations, says repairs to the ice jammed damaged areas has not been done, but another trail has been added “We have made a trail linking the parking lot on the south end of Cottonwood Island to the main parking lot and we will keep that trail ploughed during the winter. So people can use the trail system from Fort George Park through to Cameron Street.” That work cost about $75 thousand dollars.

Radloff says when it comes to the widening of the channel, there is a Plan “B” “ We would have to do it ourselves. We think this is a fairly important flood mitigation need.”

In the meantime there is still no direct access to Cottonwood Island Park, and no indication on when that might change.

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Posted on Thursday, September 17, 2009 03:56 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: BCRacer on September 17 2009 6:14 AM

well we can have potholes filled, roads plowed or bridges in the park...pick it!

Posted by: Norm1 on September 17 2009 6:35 AM

City superintendant of operations said:
___________________

“We have made a trail linking the parking lot on the south end of Cottonwood Island to the main parking lot and we will keep that trail ploughed during the winter."
_________________________

I bike along the trails from Cameron street bridge to Fort George Park fairly often and find the trail ends near the Railway Museum.

I then find that I must go out on River Road and travel along River Road, past the Railway museum, before taking an unmarked side road back to the river inorder to reconnect with the river trail system. I can then continue to travel along the trail to Fort George Park using the "marked" trail system.

Is this the route of the "new" trail spoken of in this article?

Posted by: gus on September 17 2009 7:32 AM

I agree. Mr. Radloff obviously does not use the trail or monitor what his department actually does. He is dreaming in technicolour.

There is not a single sign to any new user of the trail of how to get from one to the other. Not only that, but Tourism PG still has maps of the area photocopied on a standard white piece of paper showing the trail as it was, not as it is without warning and linkage systems. It would take all of $100 to put enough new photocopies into the proper slot on the wall at Tourism PG.

Posted by: heidi1555 on September 17 2009 7:42 AM

The way our family got around the park this summer was from sandbar hopping. Fun sport, kids had fun but c'mon.

Posted by: observer on September 17 2009 9:43 AM

Shouldn't that read -
"nowhere in sight"?

Posted by: giterdun on September 17 2009 4:03 PM

Glad we got a skoller lookin at the web sight,elsewise we cudn't figer out what the hell people is sayen.

Posted by: muckermike on September 17 2009 4:51 PM

Mr Radloff needs to be replaced with somebody that can actually do the job!!

Posted by: Harbinger on September 17 2009 5:56 PM

How about if the folks here in PG can solicit dough for our Cottonwood Island Park just like them rich folk down in 604 did with their "precious" dead cedar tree in their Stanley Park? But then again, just who do we think we are, eh?

Posted by: Palopu on September 17 2009 8:24 PM

Did anyone notice that the City came up with $4 Million to match the $4 Million from the Federal Government to upgrade River Road. The Federal money came out of the Federal Government Ports Infrastructure Fund, and because the CN Intermodal Terminal loads out a few hundred containers per year they **nudge nudge, wink wink** said this project qualifies for the money.

What a bunch of BS. We will now have an $8 Million dollar upgrade to this road that will not be used for anything, and of course taxpayers in Prince George will have to pick up the $ 4 Million.

This $4 Million could have been spent on roads through out the City, and some could have gone to fix the park.

We are being shafted by different levels of Government on a regular basis, and the local residents seem to sleep through it all.

In addition, the City upgraded River Road for a cost of a few million last year, and in the process dumped thousands of yards of gravel on the paved road. I wondered at the time what the hell was going on, as I have never seen pavement buried before.

Well guess what??. They are presently in the process of digging up and removing all the buried pavement. What the hell is going on????