4 lanes into 2...brilliant.

And two more lights! It is going to add another 5 minutes to get into town!

Actually it is 2 lanes into 4 ....

The more traffic that gets fed into it from the airport, sintich rd, Industrial way, the wider it becomes so that traffic can keep on flowing.

It is actually VERY brilliant. Traffic engineers do not go to University for nothing you know ... :-)

As far as traffic between here and Vancouver goes, put in some decent bypasses around the mid sized cities and smaller villages, add some more 4 laning to give people better passing opportunities every 10 klicks or so, and the time to drive longer distances will be reduced considerably.

I think its great. About time. Anyone whos ever worked in the BCR site knows what a bottleneck that piece of road was.
Geez I can't believe people actually complain about stuff like this...

I think its great to see Dick, I was getting worried. Close to filing a missing MP report.

ditdat ..... they are not complaining about the roads, they are complaining about the government that brought them the current road upgrading because they like to complain about the government no matter what.

At least when I complain about this and any other government it is on some very specific things.

I congratulate them on doing this. It is about time. Looking forward for speedy ways around other communities between here and Vancouver within the next 5 years. :-)

Did they leave the speed limit at 90 or did they four lane all that and drop the speed limit to 70?

Dick Who.

Dick Harris?...didn't he used to in government?
What's that?...he still is?

Still the only city of P.G.'s size that does not have any 4 lanes past city limits.

The speed now is 70. That's for the police to be able to collect enough to pay for this. Was always 90, now is much better so should go to 100. Ya I know, has to be of a speed limit so that everyone can handle. Thats why there are four lanes, so people can get by the slow ones.
Ever been on the highway to Likely, is 90 and is very narrel with lots of sharp turns, and they don't have any trouble.
The speed going up the hill at 70, well you might have just left things alone, would have saved a lot of money for the government and the public tickets.

It is all positive that after decades of a two lane highway fro the lower mainland to the central interior.

One thing I noticed is the two rail way under passes between hixon and quesnel. Those and I suspect many more along the way, are the hindrance to a full four lane highway all the way. Maybe next year's road projects will involve widening those. Of course that would take fore thought, planning, and a local knowledge. Not really things we expect from government toadies.

"When" they get around to doing those, I really hope they don't just allow for a four lane. I hope they plan for future growth by expanding all those rail under passes to accommodate a six lane highway with bike lanes.

I also wish they would do more planning for wild life crossings. Jasper has the right idea with those huge culverts as under passes.

I drive that hwy everyday, it was a long time coming, but great. I also noticed that there will be lights at the intersection of Hwy 97 and Sintich. I do hope that they put in a left turn light when you turn onto Sintich to the airport. I also traveled to the Okanagan this summer and every town till Cache Creek had hwy upgrades, added about 2 hrs to get to Kelowna, however going back a lot of the hwy was completed and it was a nice, smooth drive home.

It is about time, and I would like to see four lanes all the way to Vancouver. However, bypassing the smaller towns and cities would be devastating to their economies. Sounds like some PGer's are getting the "Hope" sydrome that is so prevalent in Vancouver....you know,nothing exists beyond Hope BC....well there are plenty of vibrant communities that depend on highway traffic between PG and Vancouver, so why would we wound these communities economy by 'bypassing' them?

And many places between here and Vancouver would make no sense to bypass any way.

This project is overpriced and years to late. Has anyone given any thought to the fact that there has been a considerable decrease in traffic on Highway 97 South. Some of the reasons for the decrease.

Sale of BC Rail and significant lay off of employees.

North Central Plywoods burned down.

Rustad Bros Closed Down.

Scale moved South of Prince George.

Art Knapps shut down.

There have been a number of other industries that have shut down in the BCR Industrial complex. So overall we probably have a decrease of approx 2000 vehicles per day, on this stretch of Highway.

In addition there seems to have been a huge decrease in traffic on 97 South this could be because Quesnel now has a Walmart, Superstore, and Canadian Tire, plus a new Save On.

In any event with the upgrade to the Highway and the loss of a large percentage of vehicles using the highway, there certainly is no congestion South of Prince George any more.

What we really need is a serious upgrade to Highway 16 West of Prince George. This is where all the traffic is, and where a lot of accidents take place. I suspect that there is twice as much traffic on 16 West than there is on 97 south.

nice to have someone who has all the answers to all the traffic problems with all the up to date stats.

Loki: Wildlife can't read you know.. In Banff and Jasper they have fences along the hiway until they reach the crossings. I don't want to pay for fences.
Actually, if you look outside Banff, the elk use the railway bridge.

Palopud is off his meds again. First off, what does moving the scale have to do with the traffic volume south? Is someone NOT going to go since the scales are there? And a 2000 vehicle decrease is based on what facts? Twice as much traffic on 16 west?please backup some of your useless rantings with fact.

Runner46. This town in very small. If you drive around every day for 20 or 30 years you get a pretty good idea of what is going on.

There is always a huge deficit between the numbers put out by the Government and vested interests, and the actual numbers. This is because the Government is spending the money on the projects, and the vested interests are making the money. The Cameron St., Bridge is a case in point. The City stated that there was approx 8000 Vehicles per day using this bridge and that it would rise to approx 14000 vehicles per day by 2014. They would be very lucky if they get 5000 vehicles per day over the bridge.

If you want to spend sometime South of Prince George around Art Knapps you will find out very quickly that there is not much traffic on 97 South. However if you spend some time on 16 West you will see very quickly that there is a huge traffic problem on that highway.

On the other hand if you drive to Mcbride on a few occasions, or North to MacKenzie you would find that there is hardly any traffic at all.

Dont forget that in the North Central part of BC that is from 100 Mile House to Ft Nelson to Pr Rupert/Kitimat there are only 300,000 people thats less than they have on the freeways in Vancouver during rush hour.

Lay off of employees at BC Rail? Are you kidding? If anything the BC Rail yard is busier than ever with the amalgamation of the CN and BC Rail maintenance shops. The economy isn't going to be like this forever. In a few years things will be busy again and you'll be glad someone with more forethought than you upgraded these roads.

Loki wrote: "When" they get around to doing those, I really hope they don't just allow for a four lane. I hope they plan for future growth by expanding all those rail under passes to accommodate a six lane highway with bike lanes."

Don't forget the centre lane for 350kph bullet train ..... with banked curves, of course ....

PG to Vancouver in 2.5 hours .... :-)

They did not even build a four lane bridge over the Cottonwood when they put the new bridge in.

No four lane highway outside of the PG city limits?

How about no 6 lane highway within the PG city limits.

Did you really spend several days counting cars on the Cameron Street Bridge? 5th Ave was a disaster without that bridge and getting downtown from the north side was a pain.

None of us are every going to see 6 lanes (with of without bikes) or bullet trains, but at least gus was kidding. Lets just stick with 4 lane dreams for now.

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The *P* in Palopu stands for..Pessimism!

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The *P* in Palopu stands for..Pessimism!

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I use the Cameron street bridge everyday to go to and from work. I LOVE IT.........

It was a total mess going down 5th ave during the rush hours. It was also pretty busy even during most other hours of the day.

So "Palopu" figures it's not useful for this City. You know what, I bet Palopu lives in a part of town where he wouldn't use the Cameron Street bridge. It amazes me how many outsiders think that we should all just use the Hart Highway. Oh that's right, they always forget all the heavy trucks and logging trucks that are also using the Hart highway. Splitting the traffic between the Cameron Street bridge and the Hart Highway makes for a much safer environment.

All these road projects are needed to set the stage for our City to grow in the future and attract more business. Sure it's not growing yet, but I give the City/Provincial planners credit, they are making good decisions that will pay dividends to us in the future.

HEY! Prince George,mwk, Quit Picking On Palopu He's Got A Point! An Opinion ! Got It!

Now If They Could Just Put Some City Lights On the Top Of The Hart! WOULD BE NICE!

I use the Cameron Street Bridge and the roundabout all the time! They are a great asset to the city! The four laning and the twinned Fraser bridges are terrific! I applaud every stretch of new four laning whenever I drive south to Cache Creek!

Mega bucks have been spent in Kelowna on new four and six laning, the new Bill Bennett Bridge, the new gleaming pedestrian overpass across Harvey Avenue (NO grimy damp tunnel UNDER Harvey Avenue ala 2oth Avenue in P.G.!) etc, etc.

There are highway improvements under way in Kelowna, 100 Mile House, new bridges, all kinds of improved infrastructure!

It is POSITIVE progress! Good for us!

Hammmy, picking on me and my opinion doesn't worry me at all!

Most of these projects are more about spending money and less about need.

My position on the Cameron St. Bridge has always been that it should have been repaired for $750,000.00 and remain as a single lane bridge. This was sufficient to handle the traffic that uses that route. Instead the City closed the bridge down, rerouted traffic up Carney St., and 5th Avenue for 4 bloody years at a huge cost to taxpayers in extra fuel, and wear and tear on their vehicles, plus all the attendent pollution, and they built the new bridge for a cost in excess of $12 Million.

The traffic that uses the bridge to-day does not warrant the expenditure of this kind of money. Especially when you have two other bridges within a few miles of the Cameron St., Bridge.

The four laning from the Chief Lake turn off to Sintich Road cost approx $31 Million.

The relocation of scale South of Prince George cost millions more and in fact was $9.5 Million over budget.

The twinning of the John Hart Bridge I beleive was $27 Million over budget.

The sorry excuse for a road up 15th Avenue to the University cost somewhere in the vacinity of $18 Million dollars. This could be referred to as the **Golden Mile**

The $6 Million spent on the upgrade to River Road is questionable, especially since business seems to be moving out of that area.

We will now spend another $20 Million on the Boundry Road cut-off.

In any event most of this money is being spent because the various Government departments have money in their budgets, and come hell of high water they are going to spend it. So as long as you dont care about paying high taxes for useless projects, by all means continue to support these types of projects.

Insofar as Prince George growing in the future, you had better give your head a shake. What would make it grow???? The only growth industry in this town at this time is Government Workers, and retired people, and people who receive assistance from the Government. Business is in a serious decline.

Enrolments in schools are way down, enrolments at UNBC are static or declining for the past 3 years, and there is nothing to indicate that this will change. The overall population has decreased from 81000 10 years ago to approx 74000 to-day.

Insofar as the BC Rail Employees go, one has to remember that the CN bought BC Rail and transfered a large number of thier employees to the BCR, because that is where they operate from, however there is no where near as many employees working at the BCR than there were a number of years ago. Their Freight Shed Employees are gone, their intermodal emplloyees, and truck drivers are gone. Thier passenger employees are gone, etc;etc; etc;

Have a nice day.

The motto of the film crew of Dreamcatcher when it was filming in PG

SSDD ...

S ame S hit, D ifferent D ay .....

Palopudster - please be sure to not login from wherever you move to. Don't let the door hit you on the ...
I have never seen anyone hate a place as much as you and stay there. Move along please.

Oh -- we're not finished with the Cameron St bridge are we?? $425,000.00 to Nahani to build a replica foot bridge. Somehow, I hope the ice crushes it so our sorry ass coucnil can see their astounding spending waste.

There is no point discussing this without
knowing the traffic flow statistics into and out of Prince George (on HW16 and HW97). Anyone have them?

I recall there was a proposal to create
a bypass around Prince George so that the vehicles with dangerous load do not enter
Prince George. What happened to that
proposal?