MayNoneOfYourWishes
ComeTrueVille
Just catching up on any and all Kevin O'Leary-free year end dumbness...
Just catching up on any and all Kevin O'Leary-free year end dumbness...
The following is from the BC Conservative Party's Transportation 'Critic':
Gosh.
Given that he does not appear to have the courage of his bridge convictions, what is the good Mr. Bhangu actually suggesting - a big, beautiful weather wall paid for by the left-sided ferry takers from the Republic of Van Isle, perhaps?
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12 comments:
Hmmm, perhaps we could use some of that Carbon Tax to help ameliorate the situation? Where did that severe weather ever come from anyway?
My Guess is that Mr Bhangu is of the real estate persuasion aka Gordon Campbell Liberal?
Before flogging off Vancouver Island real estate to the highest bidder he should first consider what Islanders think.
It should not be a national emergency when the BC Ferry cannot reach Vancouver Island for ONE day!
He should also consider the delays and stoppages of a bridge.
+https://www.confederationbridge.com/travel/restrictions#:~:text=The%20Confederation%20Bridge%20is%20designed,motorcycles%2C%20and%20vehicles%20towing%20objects.
FFS we rid ourselves of the Real Estate Party some years ago, please say it wont come back?
TB
“We must do better.”
Indeed.
The shadow cabinet presents yet another example of why its ministers in waiting should remain in the shadows.
Kevin O'leary who? And why should I care?
As for the ferryies being cancelled, ummm we live on the coast and in winter we have winter storms and our ferries are not designed for this.
The reason, according to a late friend of mine who was an engineer on the boats is that the slab sides of the newer boats make them roll badly in rough waters and could cause vehicles to go bump and turn many passengers faces go green and rush for the railings.
There are few ferries designed for such weather, with one being the venerable Coho and the Victoria to Port Angeles run. It has no bow doors for this reason and its smaller and more aerodynamic design, means it can chug through stormy waters that our boats fear to go.
But the bridge, oh yes the bridge to Vancouver Island, the great philosopher's stone of those who haven't a clue.
The last estimated cost for a 13 to 14 mile bridge was in excess of $25 billion (chump change for the NDP) but to reduce costs, portions of the bridge would have to be floating, which means any wind speeds above 50 kph (about 31 mph), the bridge would have to be closed to traffic.
So there you have it, after $25 billion, about the same cost and same problems with the ferries in winter.
Another slight problem is location because the bridge would have to link to one of the gulf islands, then more bridges must be built to connect to Vancouver Island and we must remember that the Gabriola Islanders protests about a 800 foot bridge from Gabriola Island to Mudge Island and a 400 foot bridge from Mudge Island to Vancouver island (near duke Point), discontinuing a highly subsidized ferry service, sunk the original Fast Ferry proposal for a 40 minute crossing Iona Island to Gabriola Island "Fast Ferry" project!
Then there is the tolls to use the bridge and that would be in the $50 to $75 per car range, in today's coin of the realm.
Any bridge proposal to Vancouver Island is as dead as Marley's ghost, but it comes back to haunt us after every winter's storm.
LOL.....I love it when the latest version of the corporate/fascists show off their intellectual prowess!
GarFish--
Where, indeed.
And, as per EE's comment below...Just how many storm-resilient MV Cohos-type boats, exactly, is the good Mr. Bhangu proposing we build?...And, since GordCo v1.0 and small Paul killed our shipbuilding industry with those import duty - free Krautrock boats twenty years ago, who is going to actually build them?
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TB--
Unfortunately, it would appear that all parties concerned have been captured by the Development Bund these days...In my opinion, this will not change until we see a concerted commitment to public housing development, something else that was killed off by the man who made Marky Mark's rep back in the days when Mr. Martin let the latter (and his 'Boys', with a B., run wild in our streets...errr...ridings.
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Lew--
Deep, deep in the Darkest of Shadows!
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EE--
And, weirdly, the then Rustad-Free BC Cons resurrected the spectre of that super-fast route to Gabriola in, get this...2017!
(and then, like the before times, people who move to islands for a reason were just as upset)
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JP--
Intellectual prowess mixed with intestinal fortitudenessless that can't even bring itself to mention that confounded bridge...
(side note: hit the link directly above for 'The Crunge' and stay for the James Brown groove...free associatiative comment thread follow-on effluvia now done for the day)
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From a practical point of view, the Iona Island to Gabriola Island route made sense, that was why the Socreds were investigating it for a new Ferry route.
It was going to be strictly a "non-commercial" vehicle route, with cheaper fares. It would see the abandonment of the Gabriola Ferry.
The original "Fast Ferry's had no bow doors and being catamarans, could sail in somewhat rougher waters than the "Spirit Class" boats.
That all changed of course and the result were three white elephants which were useless on traditional ferry routes.
Instead of 3 FastCats, we could have had another two "Spirit" class boats and future Ferry orders would have continued in BC, a boon for BC ship yards, but sadly the NDP fumbled the ball and the Liberals took full advantage having new boats built overseas and those boats are not well liked and tend to be maintenance hogs and refereed to as the "Das Zitrones".
FYI,
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/driving-and-transportation/reports-and-reference/reports-and-studies/vancouver-island-south-coast/gabriolafixedlink.pdf
TB
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