Nice to see the Rupert Port on budget and on time. This City needs all the economic help it can get, and this Container Port will give it a big boost.

Insofar as the Prince George Airport expansion goes, I cannot for the life of me see any connection between the Prince George Airport and Prince Rupert Container Terminal. Maybe someone can explain it to me.

I doubt that you would bring Loaded Containers into Prince Rupert, Rail or Truck them to Prince George and then load them onto an Airplane and fly them somewhere. In reverse it is highly unlikely that you would bring loaded Containers from back East or from the American Midwest to Prince George and then off load them, take them to the Airport and fly them someplace. Neither one of these options are logistically or economically feasible. So whats the connection???

The connection is the $15 Airport Improvement Fee that you are charged when you fly out of the the local airport and fact they have to spend the money on capital projects. There are other things I would rather see at the airport but everyone is thinking this will be great and some how we are going to steal international cargo traffic away from Alaska.
I say drop the fee down to $5 or so and hey maybe make it such there is no stairs between the parking lot and the building or at least a covered ramp of some sort.

As an ex Rupert resident,you are quite right Palopu.There IS no connection and I don't understand why they keep implying there is? One has nothing to do with the other.
Got company coming from Rupert today, so will see what is happening and what the consensus is on this.They work in Tourism and advertizing there.Should know what's what.

Man oh man, what does it take to see get people to see where their own paychecks come from !!

No matter how you look at it, an airport is a business just like any other that is supporting its employees, its community, and the Provincial tax base, not to mention the miriad of secondary industry surrounding it, such as fuel suppliers, mechanical facilities, other aircraft companies, private and sport plane facilities and services, car and truck rental companies, hotel services, restaurant owners, taxi services, couriers, the travel industry, electronics and navigaion facilities, and on, and on, and on !!

It dosen't take a genius to figure out that you have to actually land some airplanes at an airport to generate revenue from them !! Thusly the first priority for an airport is to get as many planes as possible to actually use their facilities - right ?? And even the denser ones amongst us could probably deduce that the more planes that land at an airport, the more services we'll need to accomodate their needs, and that more of us will find jobs with the businesses servicing those needs !!

Now from that amazing revelation, even Palopu could probably deduce that not only the number of planes landing at that airport is generating revenue, but also the VARIETY of aircraft landing there would also contribute to its fortune, because different types of aircraft have different needs, and spinoff specific to those needs begins to flourish as well. Thusly, really big aircraft need really big service facilities, carry really big cargo or passenger capabilty, eat a HUGE amount of fuel, and pay much bigger landing fees than uncle John's piper cub over there on the grassy strip !!

Now if I were the airport manager, high on my priority list would be to bring in as many aircraft to my "business" ( oh, there's that horrible word again!) as possible, and not necessarily only the type with windows, because the cargo boys pay the same landing fees as everyone else with the same size aircraft, need cross-docking facilities, fuel by the tankerfull, support from the big guys like the semi truckers, and even the liitle mail couriers get a piece of this action, and they come and go on a regular basis in and out like clockwork. As manager, I'd be yodeling load and clear every day to get the "big boys" coming in here as soon as possible, and get that runway capable to service them. ( Oh yeah, we'll need to pay some people to keep those runways in top shape too ).

Like they say, --- build it and they will come, and they sure as hell will !!

Palamino. Why do you think that after this Airport has been here for 60 years and has serviced all types of aircraft from passenger planes, to helicopters, to small planes, etc; that even during the boom years of the 60's and 70's that it never got any biggar than it did. Ill tell you why, because there is no population or business, to support a huge expansion. There was none then, and there is none now.

Dont beleive for one minute that you can set up a Airport Authority, which are all political appointments. Allow them to collect an Airport Improvement Fee of $10.00 for every passenger that flys out of Prince George, and Walla all of a sudden you are going to have this huge expansion to the runway, Cargo Jets landing from all over the world, business taken away from the Anchorage International Airport that has been handling it for years. All because we established an Airport Authority and appointed a few people to replace those that used to run the Airport for the Federal Government.

The first thing the Airport Authority did was to lay off 20 Workers. So they will have to hire 20 just to get back where they started job wise. Dont hold your breath.
Having 12 flights per year to Mexico from Prince George hardly makes this an International Airport.

As the Provincial Government said to the Airport Authority. Before we give you the 11 Million for this Runway expansion show us your business plan. If it looks like it is viable operation we will support it. The Provincial Government and a lot of other people are still waiting for this plan.

All the things that you mention that makes up an Airport Regional or International are already here, with the exception of the Wide Body Cargo Jets, and nothing has stopped this Airport from expanding except for the fact that there is no business in this area to make it expand. It certainly wont be done by wishful thinking.

I still do not see any connection between a Container Port in Prince Rupert and an Airport in Prince George. Certainly there is no connection between the Container Ports in Vancouver and the Airports in Prince George, Kamloops, Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, etc; Get my point??

Palomino ....

I understand completely what you are saying. In most cases, in order to gain customers, one must make an investment in capacity, including infrastructure. Airports are no different.

In the case of the airport, that happened when the airport was moved from the golf course to the present site. It happened once more when the brick building was built around 1974 to replace the old wooden building. That one, by the way, had no enclosed luggage handling facility when it opened, so that when the luggage was offloaded, both baggage handlers and passenger were partially exposed to the temperature elements when retrieving luggage. Absolutely primitive for the time.

In fact, today we continue to be short-changed form my point of view when we have to climb into planes which at other airports are served by jetway. How in this day a wonderful looking new airport we have could be built without a couple of jetways is beyond me. Probably $1million each, but the money is there from passengers so build them is my view. We are a winter city, the Capital of the North, the Gateway to the North ….. that doe not mean living in igloos … it means recognizing the elements and protecting people from them whenever possible .. remember, we have more and more grandfathers and grandmothers using the airport.

Capacity, other than large planes, we have built enough capacity to probably take in at least 5 times as much traffic. The “international” part looks to me like another secure holding lounge could be developed form that. The one we have is limited. 2 planes at a time, and it gets crowded.

There are more changes coming this year to unify the appearance, I believe, and to deal with the service area – gift shop, food services, etc.

As far as Prince Rupert container port and PG airport runway expansion ... I am still scratching my head on that one too ....

I would love to have someone clarify that for me so that I would have to go "Duh!" and admit that I was having a "blond moment".

Cargo planes flying from Asia to US fly right over PG. They actually detour to go to fairbanks for fuel. A lot of the cargo companies are aware of the expansion and have shown an extreem interest in refueling in PG- but they can't land without a longer runway. Thare is huge money in this.

There is no connection to the port for the cargo planes to refuel here, The connection is that the doers are starting to notice PG. Needless to say these doers do not have a negetive attitude like Palapou and owl.

Some people sit, bitch and complain while others actually are trying to create business.

Perhaps some of the cargo planes that will land to refuel - using the longer runway - will also unload/load cargo here destined for other destinations.

I agree with red2b. Doing nothing is not an option when funding is indeed available to do the runway extension.

Kelowna is doing it, others are contemplating it and will get funding.

The refueling all by itself may create a large number of jobs in P.G. - as explained in great detail on the occasion of the new airport expansion dedication.

red2b .... as Palopu full well knows from many, many, many ... far too many rehashes of the same argument about the runway expansion, I am completely for it ..!!!!!!

I also posted in support of Palomino as far as the current facility at the airport goes ....

However, I am saying above that in my view the new terminal expansion is sufficient to accommodate the current traffic and considerable additional traffic. Of course, at present most planes land at similar times of the day and it gets congested about two or three times a day …. Then the facility basically shuts down for hours. So, let’s see the traffic build up first.

Then there is the simple fact that jetways is something people have been talking about for some time but no signs of them. Why? Why do we have to get on and off planes in rain, snow, sleet, wind, freezing cold, searing heat (okay, so I exaggerate with that one)?

So, red2b … let me bitch about something …. People reaching conclusions about where people stand on issues when they need to learn to read a bit better … and that is directed at you.

“Kelowna is doing it, others are contemplating it and will get funding.”

The driver in Kelowna is investment in facilities to draw tourists, not cargo. Kelowna is the centre of what is showing the beginnings of a world class tourist area, both summer and winter. In addition, Kelowna is in the centre of a trading area with a population base at least 4 times the size of PG, and one that will continue to grow for some time, at least until the grey tsunami has done its damage …

In PG, as was said, the driver is the potential of a fuel stop alternative to Alaska. Once that is in place, and it can be shown in reality what is now only virtual, then we can go from there. If it does come about, then other infrastructure will likely fellow. With that, it will develop additional capacity, and so on.

However, as long as Victoria is not interested in promoting some decentralization policies and “opening up the hinterlands” as Williston was into, and governments in other parts of the world have tended to do every now and then – Germany, South Africa, Brazil, India – and create an actual Capital of the North, then all the best placed plans of mice and men will have a greater risk of fizzling attached to them.

Everyone has to be on the same page. At the moment, I think PG is still in the same boat it has been in for some time. We have to write our own book and hope someone buys it. The Ray Willistons of the world are rare. The potentials here are enormous. Just as in the Okanagan, it will happen here at some point in the future. It could take a few more decades.

My roots are in Europe. When I first drove through the Okanagan in the early 70’s I looked at it and could not figure out why the area was so underdeveloped and for a long time Kelowna and PG developed at a similar pace. It took the wine industry, and the Coquihalla to turn things around, coupled with the onslaught of the yuppies who had money to spend on such recreational activities as skiing and golf. Now those yuppies are the beginnings of the grey tsunami, which will just add to that. And they are building a sound studio there, so the same sun conditions and variety of locations available to them are the start of a rapidly developing film industry.

Remember …. Diversification … look at where your strengths are … where you can compete on a provincial, national and international scale …. Then build up your capacity ….. so easy to understand, so difficult to implement, especially when, in my view, there are so many people in the position of power to effect change have yet to comprehend what needs to be done to do so.

For those who think some of us are negative, while others are positive, I want you to picture this story in your mind:

“The population of this three town area will be more than 100,000 by 1981 then about 250,000 by the years 2000. Initially the core will accommodate 150,000 with 250,000 in the next saturation phase, more than 300,000 in the final stage – if the saturation is carried further – ultimately 500,000.”

That was written in 1974. It was not about Kelowna …. It was Chander Suri, the Regional District Planner for Fraser Fort George, and it was published in the PG Citizen on March 29, 1974 …..

The reason that did not come about it because there were a bunch of idiotic negative people in the community. No other possible reason for that as I see it.

There is a fine line between those who understand what drives an economy and those who are pie in the sky thinkers ….. planners come from both types of individuals.

;-)

It wasnt just Chander Suri, who thought the City was going to expand to 100,000 by 1981 and up from their. The City fathers at the time, were also bragging about the great future for this area. They and the Prov. went so far as to run Foothills to the Chief Lake road where it was supposed to continue to Summit Lake and North. Foothills South would link with Ospika and pass above College Heights cross the river and connect with 97 South at Stoner. It of course never happened. The plans are still on the books and it may actually happen someday however since the original great population **Forcasts** the population has actually decreased. If it took 25 years to get to this point, and we are decreasing then it will certainly take 25 or more years to get to 100,000.

As for the Airport you people can consider me a negative on this if you choose, however I have been around long enough to know how to pick out a **BS** proposition, and I can tell you that to get Wide Body Cargo Jets to land and fuel in Prince George, when they already have facilities in Anchorage that provide them with everything they need is at best a **long shot**. I have discussed this matter with people at the Anchorage Airport, and they are not to concerned about losing any business to Prince George. In addition with the Advent of the 380 series Cargo Jets these planes do not stop for refueling and that is the future of Air Cargo. Not stopping somewhere in the middle of nowhere to refuel.

In addition FedEx has already gone on record in the local paper last year that they will not locate in Prince George even if there were an expansion. I suspect the other large Courier Companies feel the same way. They already have distribution centres stragically located around the world and these are located in large population centres.

Take a drive from Prince George to Prince Rupert, Cache Creek to Prince George, Prince George to Mcbride, and you will see absolutely no growth in these areas. They are all having problems maintaining the status quo. There is nothing between Prince George and Mcbride other than a Couple of ski hills and a bunch of moose. Things are not much better on the other Highways. Prince Rupert, Terrace, Smithers, Kitimat, Quesnel, Prince George and other Citys and towns in the Northern Interior are not doing very well these days.

If we can maintain the Status Que in Prince George for the next 10 years we will be very fortunate.

"Foothills South would link with Ospika and pass above College Heights cross the river and connect with 97 South at Stoner."

Not quite accurate. Foothills south is to extend, (and is still on the books to do so, and will be done as soon as the Exhibition grounds will be improved) to Ferry. The reason why the City picked up Ginter’s place is because that was right in the middle of a mini cloverleaf at the proposed Massey extension up the hill as it hits Foothills.

Foothills is merely a local arterial no different than Tabor and Ospika. It was never intended as a bypass. At least not from the City’s planning point of view. Maybe someone in Highways had there own view of the thing. Foothills is simply not a trucking route and most certainly not a route for dangerous goods.

Suri was certainly not the only planner with those kind of "off the wall projections". He did, however, take it a step beyond what I would call the high growth rate projection (when planning, and one needs to put some timelines to it, one often looks at low medium and high growth rate projections)

"I have discussed this matter with people at the Anchorage Airport, and they are not to concerned about losing any business to Prince George."

I can completely understand that. The people who make the decisions are not the airports, they are the carriers.

I can also undertstand that technology changes. Planes no longer have to refuel in Iceland as they used to when the low cost hippie flights to Europe went from New York to Luxemburg via Iceland. They also no longer have to refuel in Gander. Gander is still there and most never really knew about it until 9/11.

The same may very well happen to Anchorage. I expect that any carrier that will be looking at PG as a refueling stop will be looking at at least a 10 year window of committment. So, with tech change, I do not know how many will step forward.

So, maybe the answer to the Rupert connection question is that with enough volume going through there, that there might be an air, rail, sea intermodal opportunity. It would be nice to know what that might be. I am waiting with baited breath. No one is talking. Maybe it some sort of illicit trade.

;-)

from 1970 - Time Magazine

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909595-1,00.html

then this from Gander

"In the 1950's Gander airport was one of the busiest international airports in the world, buoyed by the transoceanic traffic."

http://www.ganderairport.com/history.htm

then came the jet age and the decline of Gander .... a short lived anomaly as with many things in the world .....

So, the real question for me is this.

Who here is hooked on growth in size rather than growth in quality? I am hooked on the latter. I came here from the urban part of Canada, and my parents from the urban part of Europe, to get away from the huge metro areas. To me small is beautiful.

However, I like to emphasize that small also has to be "beautiful" in every way, not just short commutes, but nice commutes - air we can breathe and see the distant hills and rockies through, streets that are well maintained with out ugly fences falling down, weeds growing though sidewalks and boulevards, a downtown one can enjoy a sunny day in just sitting and strolling and watching people, a riverfront one can stroll along, an entetainment centre for the visual arts, etc.

Finally waht I have been wishing for from Santa for many years is more people who quite telling people who think that way that they are whiners because they want something different than they do and are negative thinkers because they think that growth in size is not the be all and end all.

Owl. Foothills is and was not just another local arterial like Tabor or Ospika. Firstly because who would use it. Some people from Nth Nechako and some from the Hart, and some from Ness Lake area. Seems to be a huge highway development for a few people. Its pretty obvious that this Highway was going to go North to Summit Lake and it petered out when it got to Chief Lake. In addition the Intent was to run it South to Stoner. I know of people, (some political) that tried to buy up land between College Heights and Stoner years ago just for that reason. This plan was in place long before they decided to build the University, and Westgate. In any event it never happended.

I agree with you 100% that there is a need for more quality in the City and less Quantity. I dont have any problem with a City of 77000 people, or 87000, or 67000.

My beef is and always has been that certain people in this area, specifically Real Estate, Contractors, Developers, Politicians, Local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, etc; constantly hype the situation and make all the rosy forcasts to help sales and their own revenue, and very seldom if ever base there statements on fact. There statements however are always printed in the Newspapers, and are then taken by other people to be based on some kind of facts.

Two cases in point are the Airport Runway Expansion that doesnt have a business plan as yet, and they couldnt tell you where they expect to get their next dollar from (except for the improvement fees) but people have been led to beleive that there will be huge spin-offs and jobs created by this project. The other is the Prince Rupert Container Terminals. Even though it has been common knowledge for at least 2 years that 95% of these containers will got directly to Toronto, Montreal, and the US Midwest, people are still suggesting that there will be a huge spin off for Prince George. I could go on but you get my point.

Another example is the implication that the Korean and Chinese teams who are in town participating in the Kelly Cup will also train here for a week before they go to the Ford World Cup in Edmonton, which starts on March 31st. I dont think that there will be any training here. If anything they will want to get to Edmonton to practice on the ice they are going to compete on, rather that practice here.

Its rather interesting that out of 62 teams participating in the Kelly Cup two are here because of the efforts of IPG and the Mayor and the other 60 are here on their own accord. Lets give some credit to the organizers of the Kelly Cup who have had people coming to this town to compete for the last 80 years, rather than to the Mayor and IPG who might be responsible for two teams spending 6 nights in town.

There are far worse things to complain about than a one time $30 million dollar expenditure for an airport runway extension. A fixed asset with no on-going operating costs and that has the potential to significantly open up new opportunities for this entire region to diversify.

Each additional dollar of revenue this project generates is nearly a 100% contribution margin to paying back a limited one time expenditure. That simply can not be ignored.

I wonder if Palopu has any suggestions on what kind of government investments would be good to help this region diversify, so as to weigh our options.

Also the original Foothills extension was to go from Salmon Valley (not Summit Lake), through town to merge with Ospika near Ferry and on to Highway 16 West. The idea of a South extension would have been an Ospika extension to the BCR Site.

The Foothills North extension makes no sense in the near future absent significant growth. Far more sense would be a dangerous goods route to the East of town down wind for industrial growth.

The south extension made sense when Wal-Mart went in and would likely be a reality if a south part of a ring road was ever started.

"Owl. Foothills is and was not just another local arterial like Tabor or Ospika."

And you get this info from where?

I have my information from CIPC Ltd. the city planning consultants who were the city planners before the city had a planning department of its own. I used to work in the architectural arm of the company and was there when the plan was developed.

There are several routes that are better than the defined highway routes through the city, including the chief lake road, foothills, university way, tyner route. They are simply not designated truck routes.

Who would use it? Stand on foothills and 5th some day at so called rush hour and then move on to tabor and fifth and then ospika and fifth and count the cars. You should find about equal use. Same after an event at the multiplex.

Live in the Hart Highlands? Wanna go to box store heaven in CH? What is the shortest, and I would add to that the most pleasant and scenic route? The route is already accomplishing much of what it was intended to do. Few signalized intersections, higher speed limits, virtually no commercial developments. All those things which make for more rapid and safe travel from one end of the city to the other. All well-planned cities have such routes.

Go to the city GIS map and click on the OCP major roads network to see the extensions of both ends of Foothills that are still on the books. Has not changed since it was first created some 30+ years ago.

[htp]http://www.city.pg.bc.ca/pgmap/pgmap.html[/url]

What's a Kelly Cup? I don't follow sports, just like others don't follow the performing arts.

I was at the Inn for two days for business and was aware of regional Job's Daughters meeting which was being held here for the last 3 or so days.

oops... just noticed ...
http://www.city.pg.bc.ca/pgmap/pgmap.html

Spoke to people from Prince rupert yesterday.They are heavily involved in tourism as in cruise ships,rail tours etc.They see no connection between the Container Port Expansion and the Prince George Airport.Maybe someone in Prince George thinks there is a connection, but it has never even occured to them and no mention of it has been heard in numerous meetings etc.they attend.Perhaps they are not privy to the right info? They are still waiting to see the whole Port issue start to have a serious effect.So far,it is slow but do think it will have SOME effect on completion natuarally.Just how much remains to be seen and jobs and new business are much needed if the Tourism/Cruise industry is to expand and succeed.
While they said they have seen very limited benefits to the town in general,it is not yet the bustling metropolis people are predicting.Still a community of high unemployment,broken down homes,and ridiculous real estste prices based on speculation.The fingers and toes are crossed, but still serious concerns in regards to infastructure to deal with it all.They just don't feel enough has been done with that end of it and expect major bottlenecks and confusion.I too think that will be a serious issue.
The "build it and they will come" attitude is not shared by all.Time will tell and perhaps they have had too many years of disappointments.But a connection between PG Airport and Rupert is a mystery to them.After all,Prince Rupert has an airport of it's own even if it is a bit awkward to get to and from.
As far as shipping companies,seems there's still a wait and see attitude by many.They too expect bottlenecks and back logs.Is this being missed or does CNR know something we don't?
So the mystery remains as to just WHY some feel there is a connection between the two?

One thing for certain is the fact that if you can't land a 747 or an A380 here or any other type of jumbo jet, absolutely no-one is going to try to do it! The contrails we often see high overhead will continue to go right on by, with nary a thought about landing here or directing some of their other traffic here by the owners, because to them, we're just a junior airport, and completely out of their league.

You can bet your boots though, that as soon as we can handle the big jets, virtually every Company that flies the big jets anywhere near us will check out the possibility of using Prince George in whatever way feasable to save or make their Company more profitable !! This fact will magnify instantly when the first big jet lands here, because every other Company out there is going to check out why it did so, and make sure they haven't been missing an opportunity that the competition has apparently already picked up on !! At the very least, every one of those Companies will have Prince George on their list as a place to land the big jets in the event of an emergency of any type, (such as the one where the big jet ran out of fuel near Gimli Manitoba, and glided in for a safe landing, saving all lives aboard).

This is simply the way business works in a free enterprise, --- you snooze, you lose !! Believe me, these boys didn't get to where they are today by falling asleep at the switch !

On top of that, who can argue that thirty million bucks put into the pockets of families in Prince George and surrounding area, to produce and improve a facility that will continue to benefit ALL Prince Georgians and the north, for decades to come, can be a big mistake ?? This money will buy a Lot of shoes and lunches for northern families and their kids, not to mention the Guys and Gals that sell shoes and lunches to feed their own families!

My point is, the money will be spent mostly here, for the benefit of all those living up here in the north, provide jobs, work, and income for a lot of people in the area, and benefit the entire North half of the Province, and its residents for decades to come.

Whether or not it makes some money for the container Port is waaaaay down the list in my priority list! I'm more interested in what it'll do for Prince George, and the surrounding communities like Vanderhoof, Burns Lake, McKenzie, Williams Lake, Quesnel, etc.

Let's get out those backhoes and shovels before someone else figures out how to weasel this opportunity away from us too !

"The contrails we often see high overhead will continue to go right on by,"

One of the first thing I noticed about PG when I moved here some 30+ years ago was the lack of contrails. I still find the lack of contrails astounding especially since we are supposed to be on the "direct" flight path form A to B.

Go east or south and there are many more, since one is more likely to be on a national or international flight path. Even though there might be an airport down the road that land wide bodies aircrft all the time, more go by overhead than land.

It was explained by those who see a business opportunity with a longer runway that cargo planes carry a full load of fuel on their way to Alaska because Prince George is not a proper refueling airport yet.

With air cargo planes every additional pound or tonne that can be carried by carrying a lighter fuel load is practically cash money in the bank.

That is where the refueling stop in P.G. comes in.

They will land, take on enough fuel to fly on and after paying the landing fees and for the fuel take off again.

It is advantageous to all parties involved.

Diplomat. If only life was that simple. In the first place the Pr Geo Airport Authority states that flight path analysis reveals that there is approx a 1% deviation between Prince George and Anchorage for Asia Usa flight routings. For many existing routes the difference in flight times is ten minutes or less. (Note the or less statement)

I dont have the miles from Toyko to Prince George to New York, however if we use Vancouver as an example this is what we get.
Toyko to Vancouver 4701 Vancouver to New York 2449. Total 7150 Miles.

Toyko to Anchorage 3458 Anchorage to New York 3385. Total 6843 Miles. Difference 307 Miles.

The flight to Vancouver is over 2 hours longer than the flight to Anchorage (1243 Miles). This requires the carrier to carry a larger load of fuel and a reduced load of cargo. Essentially giving up revenue to carry cost. I would assume that the mileages from Toyko to Prince George would produce the same (or very close results) therefore coming from Asia to North America to Prince George or Vancouver is a problem. It might (I repeat might) work going back the other way, however I doubt it as the difference is not significant, and the Airlines, Courier Companys, etc; are already established in Anchorage. 700 International Wide Body Cargo Jets per week, of which 95% are destined to USA destinations.

I think that if the savings were significant, that the Airlines, Courier Companies, and other interested parties would have put up the money and extended the Prince George Airport years ago. I doubt that they completly overlooked the Prince George possibility, and it was discovered by the local Airport Authority right after if was established, along with the Airport Improvement Fee money that has to be spent on Airport Improvements.

Owl. The Foothills Bridge was built by the Highways department and later divested to the City. I doubt that they would have built this road and bridge for the City, and still beleive that the Intent was to bypass the City North to South. The Project was later scrapped because of the lack of growth in this area. These plans are on the books sometimes for 30 years or more, so who knows whats in the works.

Palopu ... when did the Province turn the Cameron street bridge over to the city?

Here's a few facts to ponder also Palopu

http://www.intervistas.com/4/presentations/Tretheway-WOSummit_10Feb2006.pdf

I find the tourism part interesting. From my point of view those who wish to come to this region for tourism experience have no great access barriers. They fly to Vancouver form wherever on their 9 hour or 16 hour flight, then hop on a one hour flight to PG. That is no different than going to Torremolinos, Malaga, Canary Islands, etc. I have to fly to London or Frankfurt or even Madrid for that. In fact, I suspect Madrid is only accessible via Toronto or Montreal even today. So, no big deal.

The difference is what awaits one at the end. There is an entire tourist development at the end of that trip. No such thing in PG. Try as hard as we want, at the moment this region is not unlike some of the other 3rd rate tourist area of the world. We need to develop capacity.

Skiing is a joke, for instance. Powder King, with its slopes scarred with an overland hydro line is not exactly a picturesque part of the world. On top of that, it would take great imagination to create a year round resort there like some of the properties in the south.

I mean, we can’t even create a local hill of any reasonable caliber. Purden has pretty good potential, as do a few places another 15 minutes down the road. However, no one has spent money to put in some snow-making equipment and bring the hill down to the highway. There is a lake, which is positive. It could have a nice resort with hiking trails, riding, boating, even golf. The views from the lake level are not the Rockies, but still not too bad. It is close enough to pick up regular local traffic supplemented by national and international traffic.

It does not take an extended runway to put that into place. Big White, Panorama, and other interior ski resorts in the southern interior have no runway extensions on which their development depended. There is no reason I see why PG would have to be different. People do not fly into places because they can take 300 passenger planes. They fly in because there are great places to spend a holiday.

This is not a chicken or egg situation. This is a no brainer, we need the tourist facilities and then the airport capacity can be improved if the demand is there.

BTW, ran into a few Germans a few days ago who were on their way through to McBride to go skiing. They had been here before and were coming back to a place they were familiar with and obviously enjoyed. They were looking for a place to enjoy some music and dance. They were not too happy with the lack of options available. Again, if we had that sort of additional facility they would stay longer on their way through. As it was, they were staying here for the night after their flight, and then moving on to their real destination.

PS .. McBride has no wide body landing strips ….. neither does PG. They still came. And they are not the only ones.