Bridge Consultation Underway

By 250 News

The concept plan of the Cameron Street Bridge

Prince George, B.C. - Public consultation on the  replacement plan for the Cameron Street Bridge  got underway at 2:30 this afternoon. 

The first session was for industrial and commercial  users, the second session was designed to answer questions of adjacent property owners, and the third,  is a community session set  to start at 6:30 .

The plan calls for the use  of a  roundabout on the north side of the Nechako River, this would eliminate the need for lights, and, according to  the experts, reduces accidents. 

The Provincial Ministry of Transportation is  using a video from the Lacey Washington  Police Department to show  how  a "roundabout" works,( click on the diagram at right to see the  video.)

There were no more than a dozen  in attendance for the first session today. Their biggest concerns was the  ability of the  loaded truck traffic  to  safely swing around the  roundabout .

There will be a conventional  traffic light controlled intersection on the south side of the bridge.

This will be the first  roundabout in a public roadway in Prince George, there is a  private roundabout  on the  Treasure Cove Casino  property.

Trqaffic analysts looked at one or two lane approaches in the roundabout.   One lane approaches resulted in an estimated delay time of about one minute during peak periods whereas two lanes  had less than 10 seconds for all approaches in the peak periods.

During afternoon  rush, analysts suggest half of the  traffic heading north  across the bridge will turn left on to North Nechako Road, and the other half will  continue north on Highway 97.

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