Maybe Vecchiato will give us an estimate as to what year she thinks that a commuter rail (or equivalent) could be in service for our convenience.

Maybe should could also suggest what we will do to combat conjestion in the years before we have this facility.

VALTAC has the ambition to solve this problem (commuter rail), but there has to be more in the way of honest groundwork to get the show on the road. Bitching about abuses of the environment etc, does nothing to solve the problem, yet that is the sum and total so far of our progress.

It would be a great step forward if someone began the process to lay out the route for this magical solution to replace roads and bridges. Until then we will only hear a repetition of what should have been obvious years and years ago, which Ms. Vecchiato does as well as anyone.

If the provincial DOT does not have a plan for commuter rail at this very moment in time, they must be the most derelict department, of any government, anywhere.
methinks | 04.25.07 - 11:10 am | #

I hate to always seem a naysayer but as someone who has been working in this field for many years I feel it necessary to comment.

We are often asked to think globally and act locally. By expanding Deltaport and adding to the port facilities in Prince Rupert our government is thinking locally and acting globally by working to reduce pollution on a global scale while also providing local jobs. How can this be you ask?

As Cathleen rightly points out container ships are heavy polluters. The thing she seems to ignore is that if they are not unloaded here they have to be unloaded somewhere else, they are not simply going to disappear. By unloading at an expanded Deltaport, or even better at an expanded Port in Prince Rupert, not only do we provide local jobs we also reduce the distance these ships have to travel and thus the total amount of pollution they add to the global ecosphere. Every ship that is unloaded in Delta and has its load put on the rail lines here is one less ship that has to spend an extra couple days getting to San Francisco for off-loading. So not only does the expansion of Deltaport and the Port of Prince Rupert provide jobs, they also reduce the global emissions of greenhouse gases.

The difficulty with a big project like Gateway is that it groups some very strange bedfellows. NDP politicians trying to discredit the Liberals and local politicians trying to score parochial points are mixed in with legitimate environmental types trying to protect endangered wetlands (protect Burns Bog!!!!). As the Clayoquot logging protesters discovered once the dust has settled you may find that your former ally is on a totally different page. If elected the NDP politicians are going to come under the same pressures as the Liberals and will cave just as quickly.

On the commuting side I am lucky enough to be able to live my convictions. As an individual I have a negligible commuter footprint as I deliberately sought a residence within walking distance of my work. Others who are not so lucky typically sit nearly stationary on Highway 1 for hours each day belching emissions. These people are not going away and with the region growing by leaps and bounds the need exists to address this problem as soon as possible. Regarding whether an expanded bridge will only enhance traffic volume I would recommend that anyone interested in the subject read the Conference Board of Canada Report on induced demand. Their report is a must-read for all those fighting the project, since that is what your opponents are going to be quoting.

As for the VALTAC group, I agree with methinks above.
Blair | 04.25.07 - 1:46 pm | #