First of all, they'd have to replace the Salmon River Bridge.

And the Parsnip River bridge

most of the highways in BC are lagging behind when it comes to improvements. Things like bridges and passing lanes-BC is way behind. I hear they even have nicer highways in eastern 'have-not' provinces.

When are they going to do anything with the railway underpasses south of town?

Might be better if they left the Pine Pass a tourist site and spent that money on a road through the Monkman Pass with a connection to Tumbler ridge.

Everybody wants a top of the line road system with shiny bridges and underpasses, and that's great. But it all costs money...

Downnotout, does have a good point. I have researched this area for awhile and it is shorter and does go to the area where oil and gas are being discovered. The Emerson Trail area (south of Beaverlodge through to Tumbler Ridge, Dawson Creek, Ft. St. John and further north) is one of the biggest finds in Canada. Billions of dollars are being pumped into this area(by industry), even though the Alberta economy is on a slow down. There may be a huge problem with environmentalists but it would be no different than the Coquilhalla and Highway one paralleling each other. It would cost a lot of money but put a toll on it. The scenery is fantastic and would open up a whole new area for hikers and fishermen. The Pine Pass has improved over the past forty years greatly and I'll admit there are areas that could be improved but it is a good road.

To change the topic.

I am starting to hear rumours of building the rail conection from Fort St James to Dease Lake. The rail link would be for all the proposed mines. Sort of complimentary to the eletrification of Highway 37.

Anyone else hearing this rumour?

Frank

Frank...that rumour has been around for a while.
Nothing concrete, but it would not suprise me if it happens.
Makes sense.
Hopefully, we will also see the completion of the upgrading on the road to MacKenzie from Fort St.James as well by next summer.

What really surprises me is, why hasn't some bleeding hearted, tree huggin, fish kissin, vegetarian declared the pine pass as a provincial park. They can really do something with it, Run a freeway through it, build some cheeky tourist trap crap on it, and suck in them European tourists.

To make a statement that truck traffic has increased by 30% means nothing. 30% of what? I was up as far as Mackenzie the other day, and I can tell you there is very little traffic on this Highway. I doubt if there ever will be. The Pine Pass was killed off when we built Highway 16 through Mcbride to Edmonton Alta.

I doubt that there is enough business in the oilfields that would justify this kind of an expenditure. Even if you improved the roads, what makes people think that we would be competitive with Alberta in supplying materials. What is the distance from Edmonton, Calgary to the Oilfields as opposed to Prince George, Vancouver. What is the difference in wages. Would the Federal Government improve a road that would make BC more competitive at the cost of Alberta? If not then the whole cost would have to be paid for by the BC Government.

They stopped building the Dease Lake Extension in 1978. The rail is already built from Ft St James to a place called Chipmunk BC, the roadbed was built to Dease Lake, however construction stopped, for many reasons, not the least of which was the high cost of construction, and the lack of any substantial business to support a Railway.

The upgrade of Highway 37 will make it less likely that this extension will ever be built. Most if not all of the Ore etc;, will probably be trucked to Stewart BC and then shipped to Japan, or other South East Asia destinations.

There are still logs being shipped off this extension from about 175 miles west of Ft St James, but that is about it. These logs go to Ft St James, and Prince George, however the cost of the line maintenance is shared by the Railways and the Lumber Companies using the line. (At least it used to be that way).

A lot of logs from the Dease Lake Area are barged across Babine Lake and trucked to Canfors mill in Houston.

I wouldnt hold my breath for any changes to the Railway or the Pine Pass in the near future.