Feds Pledge $18 Million For New Fraser Bridge

Friday, October 12, 2007 03:11 PM

As reported earlier on Opinion250, The Federal government will contribute up to $18 million dollars towards the construction of the new crossing of the Fraser River .

The funding was announced today by Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources, ( in photo at left, photo opinion250 staff) and Richard Harris, Member of Parliament for Cariboo–Prince George, together with Shirley Bond, B.C. Minister of Education and Deputy Premier, Pat Bell, B.C. Minister of Agriculture and Lands, and John Rustad, Member of the Legislative Assembly.

The Province will pick up the balance of the cost for the new structure estimated to cost $42 million dollars.

The money will come from the Beetle initiative along with funds from the Asia Pacific Gateway Initiative.

The gathering was told that work on the bridge will start on Monday although the call for construction bids has not yet been issued.

The crews who will start moving earth on Monday, will be hired by the day to prepare the site.

The bridge is expected to be completed in 2009.

The initial budget for the bridge was $32.5 million and when the initial tender was issued, the lowest bid for the design-build of the project came back at $47 million.

The tender was not awarded, instead, the project was broken into two sections, the design section which had a low bid of 1.18 million and the construction tender which has yet to be awarded.

Still, the new cost estimate for the bridge is now $42 million. Deputy Premier Shirley Bond says they have done their best to maintain the costs "It’s tough managing capital anywhere in British Columbia today because of the challenges we’re facing" Those challenges include a booming economy, tight labour market, and increase in the costs of supplies.

With the Federal Government now contributing $18 million, the Province will pay the balance, which is expected to be $24 million. Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Pat Bell, says the Federal contribution will mean the province will now have the flexibility to speed up the development of the Cariboo Connector. "Every kilometer of 4 lane highway costs about $1 million dollars" says Bell, so with the Federal Government picking up a chunk of the tab for the bridge, the Province will have some left over money "This allows us to excellerate other projects particularly along the Cariboo Corridor."

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Posted on Friday, October 12, 2007 03:11 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: darkken on October 12 2007 4:11 PM

Why is Bell still bringing up the Cariboo Connector? It was a 2005 ploy to try to show people in the North that the Liberals care (plus good old fashioned blacktop politics). I am sure that any money the province saves on this will go to Vancouver or Whistler

Posted by: camoose on October 12 2007 7:25 PM

"Cariboo Con" strikes again. I'm sure the few kms already done will be held up as a carrot to vote Lieberal in the next election.

Posted by: Harbinger on October 12 2007 8:46 PM

Lieberal name belongs to the Feds. Why didn't the NDP do this while in power for many years? Too busy supporting the welfare state, I guess.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on October 12 2007 9:00 PM

Good, maybe them scales can now get moved.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on October 12 2007 9:46 PM

Sure seems to be a lot of money getting tossed around.
Do I smell an election somewhere?
That's usually the reason!

Posted by: slider71 on October 12 2007 10:05 PM

You can bet that after the 2010 hangover projects like the "cariboo con" will be shelved and the north will be further detached from the south. The Coquihalla highway and connector were built 20 some years ago and the impact on the southern interior is immense. How important a community feels has a lot to do with the amount of infrastrucure it has. The lack of a decent highway systems is one major reason why P.G. and the communities of the north feel unimportant.

Posted by: camoose on October 12 2007 11:13 PM

I recall, Harbinger, that the NDP did construct a bridge across the Nechako on the hart Highway. As far as I'm concerned the name Lieberal fits any lib, Federal or Provincial.

Posted by: Chester on October 13 2007 8:26 AM

There is a lot of money getting tossed around because the government is finding themselves in a huge surplus. As well as paying down a substantial amount of debt, there is still enough to follow through on many of the committments made over the past two years.

I just drove to Kelowna last weekend and was pleasantly surprised at the condition of our highways. The government has done much more than I was aware of. I was pleased. Chester

Posted by: diplomat on October 13 2007 8:36 AM

Chester, I fully agree! The amount of catching up already done on the previously neglected highways and bridges is really amazing!

The work started immediately after the Liberals were elected.

"Why didn't the NDP do this while in power for many years?"

Yes, why didn't the NDP do it during the whole decade when they were 'ruling'?

Posted by: Andyfreeze on October 13 2007 8:47 AM

If you think our highways are in such good shape Chester,try a drive to Prince Rupert like I did last week.
What a damn mess!
The government picks and chooses where they will spend the money on roads probably based on population and traffic patterns I would assume.
And where it will get them the most attention of course.
So with all the hoopla about the port expansion in Rupert, it is suprising that highway 16 is such a mess!
Once you pass Vanderhoof,get ready for a rough ride in most places.
It's one big patch!
And Prince Rupert is the same old Rupert.
Very little has changed and the same negativity by the residents.
And by the way,nobody there seems to believe that CN can handle the job with the infrastructure THEY have in terms of trackage and they are very worried about that aspect.
About the only thing that has changed is the ridiculous house prices for a bunch of rotten old crap that nobody wants.
The infrastructure, like roads for instance, remains a mess through out the area.
If all the hype about the port was true,why has nothing been upgraded?
Sure the highway to Kelowna is good, but it is a politcal showcase for the most part.
What about the rest of the province?
Cheers!

Posted by: diplomat on October 13 2007 10:32 AM

"The government picks and chooses where they will spend the money on roads probably based on population and traffic patterns I would assume."

That is good news!

Isn't that the way it should be done? I can imagine the outcry if a highway which has only a small amount of traffic on it gets top priority and top funding while the ones that are heavily traveled get put to the bottom of the list!

"Sure the highway to Kelowna is good, but it is a politcal showcase for the most part."

Couldn't it just possibly have more to do with the traffic brought on by increased tourism and population, and the many fatal accidents on inadequate two lane 'highways' hugging the lake shore and steep mountain cliffs?

"If all the hype about the port was true, why has nothing been upgraded?"

Certainly there will be highway upgrades on an ongoing basis - CN is responsible for bringing trackage, bridges and tunnels up to date, not the government.

Sorry to hear that the residents of Rupert have not yet snapped out of their negativity mode!

Mind you, after the never-ending pulpmill disappointments and the ill-advised blocking of the US ferries (I was up there and witnessed the desperation!) I can't blame them for their ongoing skepticism!

Posted by: NMG on October 13 2007 11:12 AM

"The government picks and chooses where they will spend the money on roads probably based on population and traffic patterns I would assume."

Mark me down as agreeing with diplomat on this one. It seems like a logical and sensible way to prioritize projects IMHO.

Posted by: ammonra on October 13 2007 11:47 AM

And the NDP chose to spend highway construction dollars in the heavily populated southern Vancouver Island by building the Island Highway. It is a godsend to everyone here, and is busy day and night.

Posted by: He speaks on October 13 2007 12:52 PM

Nice to see that bridge going in. It has been a long time waiting. Especially during rush hour.(20 minutes).

How about fixing up that section between Williams Lake and Cache Creek. Or push the Coq, thru to 100 mile house.

Or how about a bridge to Vancouver Island. Sure it might be a $50.00 toll bridge, but people will use it because of the time saved.

Yeah, for Gordon and the Feds for pumping in the money to get our bridge.

Posted by: He speaks on October 13 2007 12:54 PM

Posted by: Palopu on October 13 2007 4:03 PM

Interesting comments, however lets not forget that the congestion South of the present bridge is because of the lights at the scale and to some extent the location of the scale. Traffic is backed up because of the lights.

Now assume that the traffic continues to be the same after the new bridge is built and assume that the scale is moved. What will happen to the traffic. It will move through faster and;

It will move to the right to South Ft George and Ferry Avenue as it does now, and it will go through to the lights at 16 and 97.

Now we all know that the traffic at 16 and 97 is already congested, and that they have **slow** left turn signals in all directions.
So in effect we have now paid $42 Million dollars to move this traffic from the lights at the scale to the lights at 16 and 97 and really havent done much except to move the problem down the road. The problem has always been between 4 and 5 pm on traffic moving from the BC Rail industrial park, and 97 into Prince George, there has never been a problem going out of town.

So I suggest to you this is another example of money wasted. If they had moved the scale a number of years ago and put in a permanent green light on the right side of 97 with a left turn merge from the west side of the scale they would have solved the problem.

That of course would have been to simple of a solution. Lets see how the traffic is handled once the new bridge is built.

In addition the other idiotic plan is the traffic circle at the North end of the **So-Called** new Camerson St., Bridge.

They went to the traffic circle option to save some money and came up with some statistics from the United Kingdom to show how much more efficient it will be. We will have to wait and see, however I see congestion at the North end of this bridge every night between 4 and 5 pm, and every morning between 7 and 9 am. At the end of the day people will become frustrated at the wait and will go to 97 and 5th to avoid some of the delay (and risk) and of course this will defeat the purpose of the bridge because it will then have less not more traffic.

Posted by: charles on October 13 2007 6:08 PM

The three levels of government in Canada in recent years have been on an unprecedented spending spree, almost as if it is guaranteed that we are in a new era of ceaseless prosperity. (I think this is probably because people tend to vote for the political party which spends the most amount of money on them.)

Students of financial history know that once this kind of a "new era of ceaseless prosperity" attitude takes hold it means that a major recession is not too far off.

The way that our financial system works, means that after every economic boom must come an economic bust. This is very much akin to after every great pary must come an equally great hangover. This is a fact that most of us know all too well.

The levels of debt in this country are at an all time high. This present boom can only continue if this debt level goes even higher. Most of the general population owes a staggering amount of money, and is living from pay cheque to pay cheque.

What is so wrong with spending money carefully and saving just in case there are challenges in the future that have to be dealt with.

Posted by: charles on October 13 2007 6:17 PM

Sorry for the spelling mistake in my post. In the third paragraph it should have said "after every great PARTY must come an equally great hangover".

Posted by: diplomat on October 13 2007 6:52 PM

"And the NDP chose to spend highway construction dollars in the heavily populated southern Vancouver Island by building the Island Highway. It is a godsend to everyone here, and is busy day and night."

Unfortunately they put everything else on hold! Now we are finally getting the odd godsend here too!

Better late then never!

Posted by: diplomat on October 13 2007 8:21 PM

Pal:"So I suggest to you this is another example of money wasted. "

Fortunately they are *wasting* it here, giving us a longer runway at the airport and a new bridge, together with the improved new lanes.

I would be ticked off if with all their endless *wasting* of money they wouldn't *waste* any on us!

The ones that hold the purse strings decide the priorities - I for one don't know what their long range plans are and how a twinning of the bridge fits in.

It may be a more crucial element than we are aware of.

No other city would turn down financial grants and transfers to improve infrastructure so why would or should P.G.?

In fact, everybody demands a fair share.

We do have balanced budgets and surpluses, so there is bound to be some *waste.*

Posted by: Chadermando on October 13 2007 10:33 PM

Lets not forget that this $18 million is peanuts compared to what is owed to this region in our tax dollars that should have been allocated for these kinds of project 10-20 years ago. Where is the $350-400 million for a PG ring road and 4 lane road for at least 20 km south and west of PG? Seems to me the federal and provincial governments are getting a hell of a deal only putting up $18 million here $2 million there and $10 million over there... they make it sound like a lot but its not IMO.

Posted by: ammonra on October 13 2007 11:22 PM

They put everything else on hold?????

Rubbish.

The University, the courthouse, the expansion to the hospital, the Hart bridge. Plenty of dollars in Prince george.

Posted by: diplomat on October 14 2007 7:49 AM

The Hart Bridge was a last months' in office election carrot (not on time and way over budget)- the topic here is infrastructure such as highways, bridges and airport runways and those the NDP did put on hold and you know that perfectly well.

Rubbish, eh?

Good points Chad! Some 18 years ago highways were given an importance rating of one out of ten, with one being the lowest.

Posted by: slider71 on October 14 2007 7:51 PM

Chadermando is right...compared to other cities the size of P.G. we are far behind as far as dollars spent. Our elected officials have always had a tough time being heard in Victoria and Ottawa...athough lately money is flowing here.

Posted by: Palopu on October 14 2007 8:05 PM

Diplomat: You will never solve any of the problems of Government or Citys etc; as long as you have the philosophy that we are entitled to the same amount of money as any other area of Canada and we must get it and spend it even if what we spend it on is stupid. Thats the most lame, irresponsible argument that can ever be made to support a project.

Rather than have the Government continue to **buy** votes for stupid projects they should be paying down the debt, and reducing taxes. This money is not Government money it is our money. Governments just spend it.

The Airport is a prime example: What in effect do we have going on out there.

(1) The Federal Government a few years ago wrote off $ 4 Million that the Airport Authority owed to them.

(2) The Provincial Government provided $ 4 Million for design and engineering work.

(3) The Airport Authority borrowed and owes approx $ 5 Million to CIBC

(4) The Airport Authority borrowed $ 11 Million from Northern Trust Initiative which has to be paid back with interest pegged to the inflation rate.

(5) The Provincial Government gave an additional $ 11 Million to the Airport Authority.
(6) The Federal Government gave an additional $ 11 Million to the Airport Authority.
(7) The Airport Authority has collected approx $ 8 Million in Airport Improvement Fees since 2003.

Total Cost to date: $ 54 Million.

$ 54 Million dollars and all you have is a new International Aiport Section that is used 12 weeks of the year by people who are too cheap to spend a night in Vancouver when they go to Mexico, and an expanded parking lot from 500 stalls to 800 stalls. The expansion has yet to be utilized, and may never be.

Last but not least we are going to spend all this money on a Runway Expansion that may or may not (Im betting not) attract some wide body cargo jets.

Lastly. The cost of the expansion has gone from $33 Million to $36 Million and of course the Airport Authority states that they are sure that they can get this additional money from the 3 levels of Government. That means you.

Posted by: owl on October 15 2007 12:34 AM

GOOD LORD PALOPU .... we have heard the damned airport how many times now? .... 20?? 30?? ... it is a broken record ...

Time to move on to your next pet peeve ... the airport is a done deal ....

do you have any others????

Posted by: owl on October 15 2007 12:41 AM

"The cost of the expansion has gone from $33 Million to $36 Million"

And it will likely be over $40 million by the time all is said and done. In these days of relatively rapid cost escalation, that is the cost of procrastination or doing one's due diligence.

It is very simple to get rid of much of those cost escalations.

Identify the present cost estimate; project when the job will actually be going to tender and be completed, and escalate the estimate to cover the expected increase due to time progressing without the job progressing.

So, they should have said from the start, the project will cost $40 million in 2009 $

Posted by: owl on October 15 2007 12:47 AM

Hey, Palopu. In light of your saying that a person should get out and do some "real work" in order to be able to mouth off on how to run cities and stuf ..... Did you ever work as a City Manager? Or Manage an airport? Or how about managing a trucking firm, or a regional operation of a railway, or a University?

I mean with all your great ideas, we would be living in a perfect world. You could write the text books for these organizations to teach their staff.

;-)

Posted by: red2b on October 15 2007 7:27 AM

Palopu, Lay off the airport, now you can complain about the bridge for the next 6 months!