Global TV served up a grating duet a couple of weeks ago, sending out smirking reporter Jas Johal to interview former BC cabinet minster Pat McGeer.
McGeer, who continues to be a parody of a pompous, horn-rimmed professor, trotted out his ancient fixed-link plan, wherein the Lower Mainland of BC would be connected to Vancouver island by way of a multi-part 'bridge' that looks like it was devised by six-year-olds building a popsicle-stick crossing over ditchwater.
McGeer implied that when he proposed the plan to his cabinet collegues two or three decades ago they didn't have the political nerve to follow through.
Johal sneered along with Professor Egghead, but didn't bother to seek out any of McGeer's former Socred colleagues for rebuttal. He did approach current transportation minister Kevin Falcon.
Falcon commented that the cost of any fixed link would likely be such that the mimimum price of a trip across the 'bridge' would be in the area of $200 each way. It would be paid for over the course of decades, not years. (This is assuming that the 'structure' comes in on budget and of course, we have a sterling reputation in this province when it comes to costing megaprojects, don't we?. It is also assuming that any future government doesn't decide to leave the toll in place).
Then Falcon said something totally unexpected. Aside from the cost, he said, he felt such a structure would be a 'blight.' He felt it would have a ruinous environmental impact, and generally be an ungainly addition to the southern BC coast.
McGeer's plan is essentially as follows:
A tunnel would be built from Roberts Bank, in Steveston (ie. Richmond) partway into Georgia Straight. It would then hook up with a 'man-made island,' and then be linked the rest of the way with a floating bridge. The bridge would connect to Valdez Island. Valdez would be linked by bridge to Gabriola Island, which in turn would be linked to Mudge Island, which would be connected to Vancouver Island near Yellowpoint, about 45 minutes by car out of Nanaimo.
The plan involves no discussion of the need to upgrade highway infrastructure, either on the Lower Mainland or Vancouver Island side. Last weekend, for instance, there was a massive backup on the Malahat drive, just north of Victoria, after another of the highway's frequent accidents. How much work would be required on that stretch of road if you started funneling all Vancouver-Victoria traffic through it?
I agree with Falcon on this. The only people who ever complain about ferries anyway are those who travel to the Island about once a year, usually showing up at Horseshoe Bay on the Friday before the BC Day long weekend without a reservation. They spend the evening in line, and the next 364 days fuming about the need for a bridge.
Life would be so much better for these types if they could show up at the Pat McGeer Bridge on an early August Friday night, then spend the evening idling in a traffic jam.
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For more info. on the feasibility of a 'fixed link,' try...
www.th.gov.bc.ca/Publications/reports_and_studies/fixed_link/fixed_link.htm
