I agree Ben. If you take all the highway traffic and put it on a by-pass to clear up Peden Hill, than a lot of the traffic on the existing Fraser crossing dries up negating the need probably for the next fifty years of putting in a bridge at that location.

A plan for 6 lanes of traffic along highway 16 by the big box stores funnelling into Peden Hill after a fresh glaze of freezing rain during morning rush hour is an avoidable tragedy. The congestion will cost millions in competitive advantage. That area can not handle the additional traffic of growth so it makes no sense to commit more future traffic there when the options are still open.

They should do a quick SWOT analysis including the impact area from the proposed new south scales location all through to the Blackwater turn off incorporating residential and retail traffic growth patterns.

Just imagine in the year 2007 if we have a half million containers on the back of trucks competing for real-estate on Peden Hill with 13,000 new area residents and a couple of more big box retailers.

More sense and direction towards an efficient system to give PG a competitive advantage would dictate a more direct and safe route to the BCR Site for this traffic as well as the other heavy through traffic.

Let them twin the Simon Fraser Bridge now as eventually it will have to be twinned anyways.

Don't turn down ANY improvements to local infrastructure such as bridges and roads. We are paying enough taxes of all kinds to warrant expenditures here that would otherwise go to places like Kamloops which already looks like Seattle North with all the bridges, pedestrian overpasses and 6-lane freeways it has.

Kamloops didn't get all that by disagreeing with and arguing about everything the Ministry planners were deciding to do next.

If a major by-pass and bridge(s) will be needed in Prince George within a decade...well, we will get those as the conditions change.

It has been decided that the bridge twinning is included in the 200 million dollar first phase of the Cariboo Connector project.

Fine.

It is very refreshing to see that finally after a very long hiatus highways and bridges are getting the proper attention and funding required.

Seems the our City planner went to the same school to the one attended by the planner for the City of Kelowna. They also accepted the idea of a new bridge across the lake. They now have six lanes of traffic going through the City. It is a night mare.

They seem to think that all the commercial traffic will stop to shop for the unimaginative junk depensed along the the six lanes of traffic.

I would think that the Provincial government would only be interested in building infrastructure to accomadate travelers on the highway system with in the province. Why should they care how this effects plans of a community. Just ask them to reroute their highways to the outer limits of a city and see what the responce would be

I can't say as I totally agree with you this time Ben.
But for now I shall let it be.

I'm with you on this one Ben. If you follow the power line that crosses hwy 16 west near Haldi road, straight east to the Fraser river, then across to the BCR site, past Kal tire, and on up the hill to Sintich, and 97 South, (check out google earth), you will find a perfect solution to several traffic issues that are already becoming a huge problem, and will multiply tenfold in the very near future.

Firstly, a route in this location pretty much bypasses virtually all built-up residential property south of the city, making it an excellent dangerous goods route, for south, east and westbound traffic, emptying right into, and through, an industrial site, where traffic of this nature should be.

Secondly, it would eliminate all the morning and evening congestion traffic at the casino and superstore intersections, and the Simon Fraser bridge, of the thousands of workers going to and from the BCR site from the southwest quarter of Pringe George, not to mention all the heavy truck traffic heading to and from this area, bound for 16 West. We all know this will become a nightmare when the container port kicks in.

Thirdly, this route will intersect bang-on the proposed new site for the inland container port or sort yard, or whatever it'll be called, with minimal interference with residential traffic in the area, because the residential and city traffic will be heading north into the city, away from this road, not into it.

Also, in my humble opinion, if the container port planners were smart, the'd put the thing East of the Fraser on the old Netherlands mill site, and this road would be right on their doorstep, (not to mention the railroad as well), and we could probably get some input from them on the cost of a new bridge here, because they won't have to pay a fortune to get the bloody railroad up that hill to the west airport site. (I'm still wondering how they'll pull that one off.)

Anyway, just my two bits worth !!

palomino

Excellent points palomino, IMO.

Diplomat I agree that we should take what we can get in light of our provincial governments, but i just hope it is not at the expense of our future needs. We do pay enough taxes to have both bridges built IMO. I was recently in Calgary and that city has a bridge every couple of hundred feet it seems.

Diplomat. Kamloops had Alex Fraser (Social Credit) as Minister of Highways and before that I beleive they had Flying Phil Galardi (Social Credit) thats why they got all the roads and bridges. Also dont forget that WAC Bennet and younger Bill Bennett(Socreds) lived in Kelowna, hence the Coquihalla. For most of the 10 years or so that the NDP were in power the so called Minister of Highways was Lois Boone, and we got diddly squat. We twinned the John Hart Bridge to try and get Ramsey re=elected., for a cost $40 Million dollars. 23 Million budget and 17 Million over budget.

For all you people who have great plans for traffic on Highway 16 and a Bypass. The original plans for Foothills was to run North to Summit Lake and connect with the John Hart Hiway. Foothills was to run South and connect with Ospika and go West of Westgate, Cross the River, and join 97 South at Stoner. I suspect that this plan is still on the books. The reason it stopped, is because this area became a basket case without any increase in population, or business in the last 10 years, and therefore no need for a bypass.

The huge forcasts for the increases in population West of Prince George will not take place for years. I think the planning for the Fraser River Bench plan is over a 20 year period. So there will not be a huge increase in the near future.

The containers will be trucked from Mackenzie, Quesnel, Prince George, and perhaps Vanderhoof to Prince George and loaded on trains to Prince Rupert. Not a big increase in traffic, the increase will be offset by the reduction in logging trucks when the Mills move West to Vanderhoof, Burns Lake, Houston. (Thats where the action will be in the future of logging)

All loaded Containers from Prince Rupert will go through Prince George to Memphis Tenn. Chicago Ill. Toronto Ont. and will not be unloaded in Prince George.

The Simon Fraser Bridge should not be twinned because it is not needed. Once the scale moves South to Stoner is will take away a lot of the congestion.

Building the scale a Stoner may have something to do with the Bypass in the future. Who knows?