"Once complete in 2012, the Boundary Road Connector will be a direct route between Highway 16 East and Highway 97 South"

For those coming from the east and continuing on to the south, or the reverse of that, there is already a direct connection. That is approximately 10km long.

If one were to go by Boundary Rd one would have to drive approximately 25% further, for a total of about 12.5kn

So, if one comes from the east and continues to go west then the route via first ave., Queensway, Ferry is the shortest at about 10km while the one via boundary is about 45% longer for a total of 14.5km.

So, until a new bridge is built across the Fraser with a direct connection to Boundary Rd. and then on to the Yellowhead West, Boundary remains a service road for those wanting to access any new businesses along that road.

Of course, if there is a connection from Boundary to the airport to the north of Johnson road, then it will save about 2.5 km for those coming from the bridge at First - instead of 8.5 km from Boundary/HWY16 it would be about 6 km.

Or, will Boundary become the new part of the provincial highway grid and the old Cariboo hwy will be dropped from the system? That section of road is not in the best of shape.

If that is the case, then the City and Regional District/province may have to pay for maintaining it.

The federal money is not from the stimulus budget or else it would have to be completed by end of march 2011.

I have never understood why this road is being built. Thanks Gus for the analysis of the connections. Who is going to drive on this road other than the politicians going to the ribbon cutting photo op?

Mayor Dan Rogers. “This will allow our City to move toward corporate and community objectives including economic growth and diversification, greenhouse gas reduction, and energy management.”

What’s our Mayor been smoking. This guy is right out of his tree.

City cant maintain the infrastructure they have and here they are adding more road, more water and sewer lines. Seems the air is bit thin up at the airport to come up with these airy fairy projects. First we spend 33 million on runway expansion and now we have this stupid project in the works.
Cheers

"...and the old Cariboo hwy will be dropped from the system? That section of road is not in the best of shape."

Ever since the City had to look after it this hwy has been deteriorating steadily and has not been maintained properly.

Par for the course.

If you want to see how the City spends your tax dollar, take a drive down River Road. The $6 Million upgrade to this road is just about complete. $3 Million came from the Feds and $3 Million from your tax dollars.

Its now paved all the way from the Cameron St., Bridge to the CN Steel Bridge to the East. Some of the lights have been put in with more to come. Great road, good lights, and No traffic to speak of.

The City will now spend a further $6.5 million on Boundry for a total of $9.5 Million on these two roads, which is approx 3 times the amount that they spent on roads in the whole bloody City over the same period of time.

All they are doing is coming up with projects with which they can access Federal/Provincial dollars, however the problem is we get stuck for $10 Million, and continue to drive on busted roads.

Something seriously wrong ith this picture.

The only real advantage I see to Boundary Road is that it will open up development opportunities on the land adjacent to it. That can't really happen on Old Cariboo unless all of the homes and rural properties are bought out (which I highly doubt would happen). Other than that, yeah, I don't think it serves any purpose that Old Cariboo couldn't.

River Road is a crazy one IMHO. Why spend all that dough on a road that services an industrial area that we should be looking to re-locate over the medium to long-term? The millions would be better spent on grants or infrastructure projects that would help move some of those businesses so that we could redevelop those lands into something that the City can actually be proud of. Oh but I forgot, then where would the goofy bio-energy thing go?

Boundry Road might open up development opportunities on the land adjacent to it, however I suggest that the developement will come with a loss of business in the other Industrial Parks; Ie; Ongman, Carter light, BC Rail, and others.

I can see a huge truck stop, along with a Hotel, and Motel, and Restaurant for starters. I can also see Companies like Purolater, and DHL relocating out there. However at this time I cannot see any new business locating there.

I think that we can forget about the Wide Body Cargo Jets, and the Passenger Jets stopping here to refuel etc; We are now into the age of the boeing 787 Dreamliner, and freighers who can fly direct from New York to Hong Kong non-stop., Stopping off to fuel enroute will become a thing of the past. We are 20 years late and $36 Million short.