Just being around the intersection of fifth and Carney at any hour will show we need this bridge back. The earth is round.

Realist. The fact of the matter is that the Cameron St. Bridge when it was up and running handled approx 8000 Vehicles per day of which 12% were trucks. 8000 Vehicles per day does not warrant building a new bridge, and in fact that is why the BC Government gave the bridge to the City for $1.00, and it is also why the City cannot get any funding from the Province or the Feds for a new bridge.

The old bridge can be repaired for $724,000.00 and would be able to handle the 8000 vehicles or less per day without any problem and would last us for another 15 years, after which the need for a new bridge could be reassessed.

If you were to build a new bridge for $9.5 Million plus $4 Million interest it would only handle the same traffic, ie; 8000 Vehicles per day. So what have you gained.

Your argument for a new bride is only valid if we couldnt repair the old one.

This is a quote from the Citys Request for Proposal P-06-01. Excutive Summary.

**The latest inspection in September 2005 revealed significant deterioration in an upstream truss top chord and downstream truss bottom chord in Span No 3 (numbered from the south end) The Engineer conducting the inspection recommended its closure due to the extent of the deterioration. Repairs to the bridge including a replacement deck are estimated at $724,000.**

Quote in the Free Press May 12/06 by Frank Blue City Transportation Manager

**Repairs to the bridge, if completed would last for a long time, Blues said. However, there is a constant risk of problems developing in other parts of the brdge** Unquote. These problems could be dealt with when and if they arose.

I dont know how much more information people need to understand that this bridge could have (and should have) been up and running a long time ago.

For those people who maintain that we need a new bridge it seems that they cannot figure out that at the present pace of City Hall ie; 21 Months have gone by since they closed the bridge and it will be another 3 years before they have a new one up and running. How do you warrant building a bridge five years after it has been closed with no increase in traffic. If you got by for 5 years without it then you have already proven it is not needed.

A repaired bridge would take the traffic off of 5th and Carney, and it should have been done by this time. Politics is the problem here. The Mayor promised a new bridge in the last election, and he will do everything possible to make this happen. Common sense and serving the needs of those people using Highway 97, 5th and Carney have little if anything to do with this issue.

Yes the Earth is Round and guess what?? The bridge can be repaired.

Should we throw ourselves into hawk for that kind of money. Nope

Should we repair this bridge. Nope

We should look towards the three major bridge building contractors in our city, and ask them to put in a proposal for a two lane bridge that may not be up to the Ministry of transportation standards but sufficient to a major crossing for logging bridges (two lanes). We do not need a cadilac quality. We need something that will last us 40 to 50 years. It should come in at about 3 to 4 million.

Why do we need this bridge. It is there to serve the industrial access to Lakelands, La Pas and other industries in the area. It also reduces the big trucks trying to turn at 5th and Carney. Public Safety.

He speaks.

"The earth is round."

Huh???? ..

A circle is round. The great circle tour is round. The earth is a wobbly sphere.

Our Mayor has won again with the misconception he has given the public that 8000 vehicles cross the Cameron street bridge per day. This is pure bunk.

UMA Engineering designed a bridge for the City in 2006 and for that design they did a traffic count. On the day the count was done 1436 passenger vehicles, 66 light trucks and 152 heavey trucks crossed the bridge. This info is available on the City website.

As the economy was in the dumper from 2002 to when the briged closed it is hardly likely that trsffic would of increased by 6000. vehicles

Cheers

We need a bridge that can service the need of the Hart Highway and the growth that is in the future. Harper Valley, is expected to have a large amount of homes, that growth may not of happened yet but it will come. We need the bridge up and running as soon as possible, we need a good enough bridge to handle future growth, we need a solution. The Hart is a big area.

Bert. You already have two bridges for the Hart Highway and North Nechako and Foothills. You have the Foothills bridge (4) Lanes and the John Hart Bridge (4) Lanes. How many bridges do you think you need to service the people who live on the Hart????

Even if the Hart did grow substaintially in the future you would still have to determine where the increase in population would work and shop. It is not likely than too many of them would be working downtown and using the Cameron St., Bridge to get to work.

The Cameron St. Bridge as it is, is good for the traffic that goes to River Road, 1st Ave., and North East Prince George. Other than that everyone else uses the other bridges.

I used the Cameron street bridge to get to work for many years. Other than that,I used it only if I had the time and depending on where I was going and the time of day.
It was good to come down the Hart and get to the 1st.Ave.or lower end of the downtown, but that was about it.
And at quitting time,it was usually too congested and slow to bother with.
Faster to go Foothills or the John Hart if you lived up the Hart highway.
I suspect most people were the same.
Foothills and the John Hart bridge made much more sense to get to where one needed to go.
It doesn't matter how you look at it,borrowing 6 million bucks for a project like this is more than a bit scary!
A downturn in the local economy and a rise in interest rates,which I also believe is coming sooner than later,and it could come back to bite them!
Heavy politics in this I think,and very little logic.
There are better ways to spend 6 million big ones!

Did anyone hear how many signatures were gathered in total and presented to cityhall?